Whimsical, a shoegaze and dream-pop duo, are gearing up for the April 1 release of their fourth full-length album, Melt, by exclusively premiering a song and video from the record on the Big Takeover.

“Rewind,” the opening song on the new album, captures what Whimsical does best and how the duo is approaching its songcraft in 2022.

“As soon as we heard the finished song, we both agreed it should be the opening track on the new album,” guitarist/songwriter Neil Burkdoll said. “It’s upbeat and has energy without being cheesy, and it features more electronic elements than we’ve used in the past.”

According to vocalist/lyricist Krissy Vanderwoude, “ ‘Rewind’ is inspired by the type of relationship where you’re trying to hold on to what was because you realize there is a big difference between that and what currently is,” she explained. “As a result, you want to go back to when times were better — or start over.”

Be kind and watch “Rewind” right here:

Since forming in Northwest Indiana in 1999, Burkdoll and Vanderwoude have spent more than two decades crafting guitar-powered dream pop with influences from the Cure, Lush and the Cranberries. Their last full-length, Bright Smiles, Broken Hearts, was self-released in November 2019.

In April 2021, the pair were preparing to also release Melt on their own.

“The plan was to self-release Melt as a mini-album with six originals and two cover songs,” Burkdoll said. “A few weeks before we were about to send off the masters for manufacturing, Shelflife Records [in] Portland contacted us about signing with them. So, at that time, the mini-album was put on hold.”

Burkdoll continued: “After discussions with the label, we agreed to sign and decided to release the cover songs (“Sweet Valentine” by Motorhome and “Snail” by Smashing Pumpkins) … and to record four new songs to add to the album, which we did.”

With the release date pushed back a full year, Shelflife agreed to release a 7-inch record of two new songs: “Gravity,” the first single, premiered in May 2021; the flipside, “Float,” was exclusive to the 7-inch.

A third cover tune, “Cerulean” by the Ocean Blue, was released in December 2021, which brings us to the release of this second single today. Next up, Whimsical will issue Melt on April 1, which is the birthday of friend and graphic artist and musician Andy Jossi, who created the accompanying video for “Rewind.”

Melt will be available as digital download, CD and vinyl. With shortages and back orders, the record will not ship until sometime in the summer 2022.

The album was engineered and produced by Burkdoll and mastered by Andrew Rose of Pristine Audio in Saint-Méard-de-Gurçon, France. He has worked with other shoegaze bands, such as Monster Movie, 93millionmilesfromthesun, Uniform, the Churchhill Garden, FOG, Tears Run Rings and Linda Guilala, among others.

Pre-order Melt right here.