For any person born in the 1980s-1990s, “Floating in Blue” is a nostalgic journey to before your very first memory, revisiting your first moments on Earth and tapping into a place within the self never gone before. For any listener, regardless of age, the song is a hazy transcendence into hypnotic weightlessness and overlapping dreams.
After washing in with ambience, opening lyrics “I’m floating in a cloud” are some of the only words one can decipher through the fog of the track. Also legible is the start of the second verse, “I’m floating in a dream, you pinch me but I still sleep.” But that is about it; the rest of the song is left wide open for interpretation, resulting in sentimental sounds very deeply felt. Matt Allen’s waving guitar rings and swirls along Giovanni Betteo’s raindrop bass. Vocalist Stefanie Hodapp’s sultry coo holds a gorgeous wisp similar to many indie-pop voices, yet with enough presence to float above a full band.
“Floating in Blue” is the opening track off of their sophomore effort In Between, released this spring. The album walks through an enchanted forest of redwood on an overcast day, an homage to the coziness of gloom. The Prisms have grown to better tame the beast of noise since their lovable yet flawed debut Friends for Now; the new album is noticeably tighter and exhales a sound more dream-pop smooth than their debut lo-fi beach party.
The formula? Directness of punk multiplied by shoe-gaze textures and candy sweet pop melodies. See young Americans madly kick up a cloud of scenic noise and dive into deep waters of another wild and loud rock and roll moment. In the water’s reflection is a very turbulent time in the west and around the world.
In the late 1960s, prominent San Francisco acts like Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service were experimenting with psychedelic noise and distortion to alter conscience in new ways. Looking west in 2012, one with the correct vision can spot another wave of electricity rolling into the bay, sweeping up indie musicians leaving their ukeleles ashore.