A beautiful record from a very talented team-up.

Billie Eilish has many strengths and depths. However, her undisputed secret weapon is her equally talented older brother Finneas. The two have a complex understanding of each other that propelled Eilish to being one of the biggest stars on the planet and helped Finneas to a share of ten Grammy Awards, including two for Best Producer. Whilst he was involved in music prior to this and has explored working with and writing for other big-name artists, there has been a clear desire of late to step out of the shadows and enjoy being his own person.

Ashe and Finneas first worked together on a track called ‘Till Forever Falls Apart’ on Ashe’s debut album Ashlyn back in 2021. It was a great track, and both enjoyed the team up enough to come back together to do a full album under the name The Favors. It is very much the blueprint for what follows here.

The Dream is an utterly gorgeous album of sophisticated, mature songwriting from a pair that effortlessly complement each other. There is very little here to place it as an album released in 2025. Instead, there is the clear intent to produce something classical and timeless. It is chock full of melodies and harmonies. There is liberal use of lush orchestration. First single ‘That Little Mess You Made’ was a huge hit. It is so 70’s leaning there is almost a hint of ‘The Winner Takes It All’ about it.

Whilst every track on the album is well crafted ‘The Hudson is an absolute highlight with ‘Time Square Jesus’ only just behind.

It is starting to feel like there is a reaction going on to the last decade of autotune in the musical landscape. More artists seem to be pursuing classical pop and rock sounds, a move away from computers and trickery. Perhaps it is the only response to the emergence of AI. If technology is coming for art, then the only way to beat it is to be more human. These tracks are so chock full of emotional resonance and the romanticising of little moments that it makes you feel warm and alive. I hope we will see a reemergence of this team-up once in a while in the future. It will be something to look forward to.