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Jul 20, 2023 By Caleb Campbell

Singer/songwriter and producer Olivia Reid released her debut EP, Earth Water, in 2021, introducing her stirring combination of intimate indie acoustics and layered electronic pop production. The results occupy a meeting point between indie, dream pop, and folk singer/songwriter fare, pulling charm and catharsis out of Reid’s delicate soundscapes.

Since her debut she’s shared a handful of new singles, returning this year with a trio of tracks ahead of her upcoming sophomore EP, “Runner’s High,” “Wounds (Healing),” and “Central Park West.” Today, she’s back with another new single, “Nightmare Machine,” premiering early with Under the Radar.

“Nightmare Machine” balances Reid’s personal and introspective songwriting with a gentle indie pop sheen, painting her ruminations in muted hues and shimmering gossamer textures. Reid shades her aching vocals in cinematic production, cloaked in layered electronic accents and hints of strings and saxophone, but at the song’s core she offers a searching folk confessional. The lyrics find Reid tracing an entirely relatable plea for peace and rest, wishing that she could escape from the world’s nightmares: “And I sink in deep / The world and I just need some sleep / I’m so tired of being tired / Can’t you see that I’m hurting just lighten this burden off me / King of dreams / Spare me of this nightmare machine / I’m so tired of being tired / Yes, I know that you’re busy / I guess that there must be / Someone else hurting besides me.”

Reid says of the track, “I wrote the first iteration of ‘Nightmare Machine’ back in 2017. I’ve always had very lucid dreams, and that lucidness can very quickly become terrifying whenever my dreams would turn into nightmares. The terrifying shooting in Las Vegas had just happened at the time, and thinking of what those families and survivors had gone through - the fear of shootings completely took over my nightmares. Over the next few years, especially during the pandemic, seeing the gun violence, racism, police brutality, and divisiveness that’s plagued the US — it all seeped into my subconscious into these nightmares. While the song started as this sort of general plea for a good night’s sleep, I think it has become a plea for peace and rest in general. I wrote, ‘The world and I just need some sleep,’ speaking to this fatigue that I think we all feel right now.”

Check out the song early below.