The prairie dominates America both physically and mentally. That center of the map, smack dab between the wilds of the West and the tame, yet furious East, is our heartland that the so-called real American politicians like to invoke so often. Omaha-based Neva Dinova know this land, have read its storybook, and are flush with its sounds. In their own wresting with past and present–pop-flavored guitar distortions juxtaposed with slow-going countrified strumming–the band emanates timelessness, creating music that would sound equally right crackling from old vinyl as it would cooing directly in-ear from a pair of new-fangled headphones. Their land ambles with folktales that live in the retelling with lackadaisical yet absorbing vocals by singer Jeff Bellows. Conjuring the voices of your grandfather or the town drunk who’s always stationed at the end of the bar, the stories he weaves either wash over or suck you in, and both interactions have their justifications and purposes. You May Already Be Dreaming can fall into easy listening, so you might not pay attention to the details, but much like that land they come from, it only passes by if you choose not to notice. Tune in, and its patterns, fables and rhythms become yours.
