Hembree and Little Hurt

No need to pinch yourself: Hembree’s It’s a Dream! is real. The Kansas City-based indie

rockers’ second album finds the quintet pushing their established sound—first glimpsed on

2019’s excellent debut House on Fire—to new, colorful zeniths. Possessing a funky looseness

and hip-shaking approach that perfectly pairs with Isaac Flynn’s emotionally kaleidoscopic

lyrics, It’s a Dream! is a record about getting freaky even while you’re freaking out. It’s a beyond

relatable sentiment couched in music that burrows its way into your mind and stays there.

Since Hembree released their first album House on Fire back in 2019, they hit the road and

came off a stretch of touring ready to channel that energy into their next artistic statement.

Before the pandemic, work on what would become It’s a Dream! Was halfway done—and when

the world shut down, it gave the band an opportunity to look inwards and refine their own sonic

approaches while embracing a newfound maturity.