Denver Music Scene Review: Gleemer

The dream-pop genre has seldom been mentioned in the local music scene until recently, with Loveland-based group Gleemer taking the stage. Their unique sound tickles the senses with a brush of floating vocals, driving guitars and lyrics that feel as though they’ve been in your heart before you even put on your headphones.

Gleemer’s talents are displayed through a number of releases, the most notable being their 2015 EP No Goodbyes, closely followed by their LP Moving Away.

No Goodbyes paints a picture of a lakehouse party through the eyes of four different partygoers, each one with a unique perspective. On the surface, the concept of a whole album being about a party at some random guy’s parent’s house sounds rather bland and “poppy”; however, Gleemer takes a drastically different approach with deep, hard-hitting lyrics like “and I was so unprepared when you loved me instead of them,” which can be heard on the intro track “Workout.” Vocalist and writer, Corey Coffman, even manages to slip thoughts of compelling family struggles in the track “Shoulder Pads” when he serenades the listener with the words:

“I wish my dad would stop drinking.

I wish my friends would stop thinking about

All the reasons I stay home now.”

While only around 12 minutes long, No Goodbyes is an EP worthy of your time from the local music scene.

Unlike many local bands that seemed promising and then never came out with more music, Gleemer followed up their fantastic EP with their astounding full length album, Moving Away. For this album, Coffman recruits new bandmates to help write and record, which can be easily identified by the refreshing change of pace in the instrumentation that the band adopted without letting go of their refreshing songwriting style. This album beckons a response from the soul with tracks like “Gauze,” where Coffman recounts old love when he says:

“I lost it on you the other day

Cause I’m scared that these things’ll never stay.

You only remind them.”

Gleemer is definitely a band you want to see playing an old-school basement punk show, so make sure to keep eyes and ears open before their music gets big!