Dream, Ivory is the project of brothers Christian and Louie Baello. The duo recently announced their debut album, About A Boy, will arrive on September 30, 2022 on AWAL. Ahead of the release, they have shared lead single “Soaking Up The Sickness.”

Dream, Ivory began almost by accident. “We were [originally] making rap songs,” Louie says of their short lived hip-hop project (though they still make rap music in their downtime). “Christian started making beats because I wanted to be a rapper.” Part of that dynamic remains: Christian largely works on production while Louie handles the vocals. Before landing on the shoegaze pop of their Dream, Ivory EP, the two would post guitar covers on YouTube. Christian handled the editing and production, directing his brother on camera. Christian has had a lot of success producing under the name Ginseng, working with artists such as Yeat, Rico Nasty, Night Lovell, Lil Tracy, and basketball legend Dennis Rodman.

About A Boy was recorded largely over FaceTime, Discord, and email. Christian moved to Los Angeles; Louie remains in their suburban hometown of Lake Elsinore. It’s indicative of how they would always work: separate and together, Louie writing a bassline while Christian worked on separate beats. The version you hear is the third iteration of the album; still self-produced by the Baellos at Christian’s house, elevated with mixing by Henry Stoehr of Slow Pulp. Dream, Ivory’s past work was largely influenced by Beach Fossils’ riffs, Beach House’s synths and pads, and Slowdive’s air-y reverb — sounds they were able to draw from and engineer into a wistful music all their own.

“It’s a self-reflective album. It’s about us — about a boy — [based on] whoever is singing,” Christian says, revealing that he also sings on the LP, and for the first time in Dream, Ivory’s history. “Our old songs were about [a] broken heart. This is very vulnerable — straight up, it’s about us.” There’s a second meaning, too. NUMBER (N)INE, the now-shuttered Japanese fashion house, had a grunge-y Americana collection in 2007 titled “About A Boy.” “The look of that season is the way the album sounds,” he says. The candor is evident: not only are both brothers singing songs about “self-hate” and “self-love,” as Christian describes it, they’re both heard loud in the mix — a new venture for Dream, Ivory.

Dream, Ivory
About A Boy
Tracklist:

1. Soaking Up The Sickness
2. Wake Up!
3. Sensory Overload
4. Everyone Is Something (Nobody Is Nothing)
5. Kids
6. Isn’t It Obvious
7. Boyhood
8. Tastes Like Candy
9. M. O. V. E. O. N.
10. Would It Kill You At All
11. I’m So Emo
12. Playing Pretend

Pre order About A Boy by Dream, Ivory HERE