Hammock
The Second Coming Was a Moonrise
HAMMOCK
In 2026, it takes a certain level of nous for dream pop acts to stand out amid the crowded pack. Something about its hazy emotions and warm palatability has made it a quote-unquote algorithm-friendly genre, similar to instrumental hip-hop, serving the same purpose that coffee-shop indie folk did in the 2000s. This means there’s a ton of vague, bland dream pop being produced—background fodder for faux-inspirational social media content or listicle videos recommending the same albums by Cocteau Twins ad infinitum.
On The Second Coming Was a Moonrise, Nashville veterans Hammock neatly skirt this issue by blending the understated melancholia of the genre with the more dramatic Sturm und Drang of post-rock. If you made a Venn diagram of these two categories of music, Hammock’s latest album would sit bang in its middle. It makes for a nice push-and-pull, each polarity working to balance out the other whenever you feel like the tracks demand either a bit more or less oomph. The two approaches also crib from one another; “The Unsetting Sun,” for example, is all post-rock patience and swells, yet its final act payoff satisfyingly holds itself back in favor of a more careful but no less impactful distorted drum-and-synths climax.
With a title inspired by band member Marc Byrd’s teenage memory of mistaking a moonrise for the second coming of Christ while tripping, these 10 tracks all reach for transcendence with the same delicate, wondrous touch that only the best psychedelic experiences can bring (naturally, The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne and newly ex-Lip Steven Drozd appear on “Chemicals Make You Small”). It’s a slow, gradual journey, one that can sometimes feel a tad repetitive. However, there’s no denying the relentless, warm-hearted, and cosmic nature of the album. Tracks like the vocal-heavy, almost synth-pop standout “Like Sinking Stars” and the ambient grandeur of closer “All the Pain You Can’t Explain” are properly beautiful, like staring into the big blue sky, several tabs deep, allowing the great beyond to wash clean over you.
