Captured in a single inspired hour on a humble Casio CT-770, Dreams of the Méditerranéant turns raw immediacy into transcendence—proof that mastery, not machinery, carries the music. With sea-soaked textures from Catharæ and Trem 77 and proceeds supporting SOS Méditerranée, it’s a reminder to create boldly with what you have—and let it flow.
Humble keys, infinite reach
There is an energy of immediatism and urgency at play in this work. The main portion of the record was captured and composed in only one hour on a simple Casio CT770 keyboard. What was not recorded were the hours of practice and dedication Catharæ has already put into learning and playing music beforehand. When the light of inspiration turns on, that’s when it is a good idea to hit the record button, don’t think, and let the music flow through the fingers.
I’m not a keyboard player, but I know that writing flows as much from the fingers as it does from the heart and head. That’s why I won’t ever use a Dictaphone, or even a microcassette recorder, to talk into and record my thoughts. They come much easier if I let my fingers do the talking. I get a similar impression when I listen to this album. When I hear what Catharæ allowed to come through those fingers, I get transported to a realm of pure delight. I also can hear that they have practiced, practiced, practiced.
Such practice is what turns a humble keyboard manufactured in the early 1990s into a tool for taking in the transcendental. It is certainly lots of fun to play with patches, twist knobs, and get loaded down in chains of effects, but an album like this shows that fancy modular gear, or expensive retro synths, or expensive boutique synths aren’t always what is needed to make great songs and records. The regular everyday folk musicians who kept their friends and families entertained with battered fiddles and hand-me-down guitars knew this well enough. The heart of the music came through the humble instrument.
Folk musicians didn’t pay a ton of attention was paid to getting the best gear. It was a matter of using what was at hand. I don’t know what other kind of gear Catharæ might have in their studio. I’m not at all against a well-equipped studio either, but having all the right tools, or what a person thinks are the right tools, shouldn’t be an impediment to just cracking on with the art of musicianship and making music. Use what you have.
Capturing inspiration before it flees ::
Part of the pleasure of this album also came from hearing this older keyboards in action. Old Casio’s are the sound of so much homemade music that there is a nostalgia factor for me personally. I recall all the little noise outfits that I dabbled in during high school and in the immediate years afterwards. Lots of times it was just such a keyboard that was part of the sound, playing in a bedroom or a basement. This isn’t noise music, and it’s not harsh at all, so don’t don’t let that throw you off. What is on evidence here is how vast swathes of time get condensed down for the listener into this artifact of mastery.
Adding to these immediatist meditations comes Trem 77 with the textures and atmospherics, reflecting water and the sea. The swell of the spray and the drift of glistening droplets reflected in sound. It’s like being set adrift in a boat and letting the current take you where it wills. Getting lost at sea was never so fun as it is in the safety of home. Birds chirp here and there, so you never feel that you are to far from the safety of land.
As they wrote in the notes for the album, “At meridional pace, music always changes, drifts, interrupts, glisters, and swirls, forming an intuitive language that remains free of assignations as long as we keep listening, communicating with water. A thousand human hands would not be able to reveal the infinity of nuances contained within its womb. Sea reflections bring out a spiral of stories that feel neither good nor bad, just infinite. We are living in the first century of humanity where our sea is systemically transformed into a dangerous wall.”
All proceeds made from this album will go to SOS Méditerranée, an international maritime and humanitarian organization dedicated to saving lives at sea.
Dreams of the Méditerranéant is available on Adventurous Music. [Bandcamp]
