A dizzying and blissful array of soundscapes and soundtracks to a time period that is personal to those that let it in. In as much as we could continue writing about this album, its swirling collage of tantalizing electronic music consistently sparks the imagination.
A swirling collage of tantalizing electronic music
Somewhere between brittle electronics and gentle ambient flutter, Ethereal_Interface (a collaboration between Chicago video artist Sara Goodman and electronic musician Modal_Plane) presents Dream_Logs, a wistful sonic collection of 15 pieces that dip, dive and transcend time.
From emotive passages right at the onset with “Propinquity” one can hear the delicate weaving of atmospheric synthesizer elements to the feel-good downtempo flux of “Last Good Day” where heavier low-end intermixes with sweetened melodies. Almost as if port-royal, Ulrich Schnauss and Tobias Lilja were to meld their symphonies of sound and voice, Ethereal_Interface creates similar synergistic gravity—an overflow of nostalgia mixed with dreamlike snapshots. Highlights continue to take shape as the album moves forward. For example, on “Dreamstate with Caution” the looping rhythm and floating vocal elements ebb and flow in a surge of heartfelt time capsules. “Eternal Return #4” easily simmers in familiar terrain (ref. port-royal)—a short run piece that paints its images on a large (emotional) canvass of times gone by—a distant memory rushes back into focus only to fade away instantly. Several messages are delivered both subliminally and at times with a clear spoken word delivery.
This is where Ethereal_Interface really captures the listener, by assembling a mixture of ambient and modular synthesis tunes in a hypnotic direction (ref. “Easter Island” and “Unknown Vistas”)—weaving vocals create an “audiovisual journey“—as noted in the press sheet, and we fully agree. Such a full-spectrum album, shedding light on vintage electronic music passages, downtempo clouds glide over the landscape in harmony with sliced vocal layers (ref. “Sad Android Cento”) as further broken tectonics are exposed on tracks like “DOTVS” mourning the death of the video store. The abstract deconstructed closing (“Hack Viz Cortex”) features a series of altered voices lapping into a stream of consciousness.
As the aptly titled album reflects—Dream_Logs is a absolute gem of a release that captivates the ears, plucks the heartstrings, and tickles your feet. A dizzying and blissful array of soundscapes and soundtracks to a time period that is personal to those that let it in. In as much as we could continue writing about this album, its swirling collage of tantalizing electronic music consistently sparks the imagination.
The VHS, soundtrack cassette, and an accompanying chapbook will be released on February 6th, 2021.
Dream_Logs is available on Circuit Church. [Bandcamp]
