7/10

Over the best part of two decades, Ruben Vermeulen has steadily shaped Funus into something that feels increasingly difficult to contain within any single genre. There are traces of shoegaze, doom, post-metal and ambient rock running throughout his work, but on 'Dreamless Water', those reference points result is a record that sounds vast, bruised and deeply immersive.

Across nine tracks, he builds an album concerned purely with complete immersion. The title-track sets that tone beautifully, allowing hazy guitars and restrained melodies to slowly gather weight before the record begins to reveal its heavier instincts. There's an almost tidal quality to the way these songs move, rising from quieter passages into towering eruptions without ever feeling hurried.

‘Still Circling Downwards’ and ‘Between Futures and Shadows’ carry a sense of emotional exhaustion beneath their guitars, while ‘Caged Liberty’ feels broader and more forceful, pushing Funus towards something almost monumental. While ‘Neon Loneliness’ and the brief ‘Where the Heart Sleeps’ offer moments of space and vulnerability, making the heavier sections surrounding them feel even more severe.

The centrepiece, ‘Hum of Nothing’, stretches towards eight minutes and captures everything that makes this record so compelling. It unfolds patiently, allowing tension to accumulate before eventually becoming one of the album’s most consuming pieces. ‘Fractured Calm’ then continues that feeling of emotional instability, while closing track ‘Across the Bridge of Echoes’ sends the record out with a suitably expansive final statement.

But what makes 'Dreamless Water' especially impressive is the sense that every element belongs to the same world. Vermeulen handles vocals, guitars, bass, drums and synthesisers himself, yet the album never feels like an exercise in technical ability. Instead, that complete control gives the record remarkable cohesion, as though every distortion, distant vocal and lingering note has been placed there to serve the same emotional purpose.

After years of developing the Funus identity, 'Dreamless Water' feels like a major step forward. Heavy without becoming blunt and melancholy without collapsing into despair, it's a beautifully constructed album that finds something strangely uplifting inside its darkest moments.

'Dreamless Water' is available on various physical formats, including 12" vinyl and a 6-panel CD. All of which are available on their Bandcamp HERE.