A soul-stirring sonic brew of contrasts. Tranquil and dreamy, but also disturbing and eerie. Definitely one of the most eccentric releases of the year.
Justin Walter couldn’t have chosen more suitable artwork to accompany his latest collection of musical outputs. The blend of menacing red shades with the purifying, soothing, spiritual turquoise blue and looming nightmarish black, perfectly reflects the flow, ambience and abstraction of the music. Lullabies And Nightmares is a soul-stirring sonic brew of contrasts. Tranquil and dreamy, but also disturbing and eerie. Some of the tracks actually manifest all those characteristics simultaneously.
This kind of manifestation becomes especially effective in the title track, as bizarre sequences spin and morph while trumpet currents ebb and flow, and the EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument) howls and twirls erratically. Tracks like “The Way of Five” and “I Saw Your Face” demonstrate sweeter, wistful, more caressing and ethereal vibes with highly addictive layers of floating spacey designs but with just the right amount of grit in the textures to keep that fragile balance between the unsettling supernatural and the soothing, heartwarming escapism. Within the charming threads of “Plastic People” Floyd-ish flavors bubble.
Most of the tracks here are one take improvisations with the only overdubs being drums, provided by Quinn Kirchner. This kind of modus operandi allows unique, magical and raw moments of inspiration to be captured. Lullabies And Nightmares is filled with those moments. Definitely one of the most eccentric releases of the year. A documentation of emotive musical experiments.
Lullabies And Nightmares is available on Kranky.