Candy Claws Review and influence in Dream-Pop

Introduction

Candy Claws has been one of my first bands to ever introduce me to the sub-genre of dream pop. With its ethereal sounds, mystical lyrics, and hazy atmosphere, it is a band that carries forth a certain place in my heart for its eclectic musicality that still retains its originality to this day. When I was a teenager, interested in broadening my music repertoire beyond pop, the band was an eventual gateway to other bands that shared that ethereal, shoe-gaze distortion—such bands as The Microphones, My Bloody Valentine, and Neutral Milk Hotel. The Band only released 4 albums throughout its conception from 2007 to its eventual disbandment in 2013. Its 2013 critically acclaimed album, Ceres and Calypso in the Deep Time, created a cult following for the band for its psychedelic feel of their characters within the album. Ceres, a seal-like beast and Calypso, a human being, wandering around the Mesozoic era. Despite their success with their album, the band disbanded in 2015. With that, who is Candy Claws? And what should we expect from them and their influence on the dream-pop community?

Origins

Candy Claws was created in Fort Collins, Colorado, in the early 2000s. The band itself comprises three members: Ryan Hover, Karen Hover and Hank Bertholf. The band labels themselves as a shoe-gaze band with an affinity for the dream pop genre. That is evident with their critically acclaimed album Ceres & Calypso in Deep Time. The band originally disbanded in 2015, but the popularity of their last album soon led to a 2025 reunion, with the release of Ceres & Calypso’s 10th-anniversary edition featuring bonus tracks. As of the current day, both Karen and Ryan Hover are part of the new band called Sound of Ceres, alongside Derrick Bozich, which still carries that stargaze vibe that is implemented towards their music to this day. 

Music

Many great things are often born in small numbers. In the case of Candy Claws, their birth follows the same pattern. Only starting off releasing music through BandCamp, which is a popular site for many emerging artists within different genres to release music, it was through internet forums like 4Chan and Reddit that the band started to gain more popularity (As evident throughout the article, I will only be mentioning their last album). It also helped that their last album, Ceres & Calypso, received so much critical acclaim for its originality and lyrics embedded in the album. Working with poet, Jenn Moreau, the band created a storytelling type album that narrates the story between a girl and a mythical seal that traverses through the Mesozoic Era of time.

In an article written by Pitchfork Magazine, the album is supposed to be played in a story-like manner, with different bands playing different parts of the song as dinosaurs. Throughout their discography, most of their lyrics reflect that of nature and its setting. It is not merely by accident by account that the majority of their music reflects that of the world we live in, for it also reflects their attitudes towards the world around the band when creating their music. You can observe this lyricism play out in songs like White Seal (Shell & Spine), Pangaea Girls (Magic Feeling), Transitional Bird (Clever Girl) and a multitude of songs throughout the album. If the lyrics do not suck you in through this magical album full of alliterations of biological specimens, the mixture of songs and melodies that are often overlapping and distorted will pull you in. 

In an interview with Break Yr Legs on Tumblr with the band in 2014, they describe their music-making process. One of the band members, Ryan Hover, explained that they shy away from samples when creating Ceres & Calypso in comparison to their earlier album due to its being complicated. Karen Hover states that their music-making process relies heavily on instruments rather than samplings. In terms of the lyricism of the album, they put the job of lyricism to the poet, Jean. As Ryan has stated, “We told the poet we worked with on the lyrics to write it in a first-person perspective as if they were these two characters. It is more about their feelings and their relationship, rather than an explanation of their situation.”

In recording their music, the band often distorts the music through different means, either by modulating the octaves, increasing its speed, or stretching it out to the point that its original sound is unrecognizable. Putting these things together, the band has created 4 different albums throughout its conception.

Other Projects and Future Events

Despite the breakup of Candy Claws, its former band members have not stopped producing music. As mentioned previously, both Karen and Ryan Hover have been rather consistent with their social media on their project through their Instagram. In their new band, Sound of Ceres, their latest release, Walking in the Air, was released in 2022. Whether they will release new music anytime soon is a mystery, but we expect more works coming from them.