dreamend reviews (grave014)

So how is Dreamend going to match or surpass the visual & audio effort as if by ghosts from last year? Well, the trio would release Maybe we're making God sad and lonely, of course - this 6-track spectacle of twinkling 'life-breath'. With two 8+ minute designs ("a place in thy memory", "new zealand" - the latter being a split capture of Dreamend improvisation - 10 full minutes of it), you have plenty of time to dim the lights, spark some emotion (or simply light a candle - it's your life) and reasonably lose yourself in the atmosphere adapted from instrument to tape found here.

For most of the album, not a word needs to be spoken by the band itself - in the seasoned capture of Japan's Mono (minus the strings), yet there are moments when a story could do the textured 'ambiance' positive - like "In Her Little Bed We Lay Her". This repeat player - combining the goosebump team of bells / glockenspiel (possibly), some slide instrumentation and a buried layer of synths is displayed while a woman recounts a ghost story from the Civil War era to her friend. As she puts it in the beginning, "I'd like to tell you a ghost story that'll really raise the hair on yer head".. . yes, it does. I have replayed this track alone more this year than any other album combined, it's the precise formula of a band incorporating their unique sound and infusing dialogue to create a work of art. "Iceland", one of 3 compositions where the band opts for an audio microphone is properly titled. A landscape of the Dreamend guitar / gentle drum & cymbal / "dream state" swirl passes through a filter of ethereal vocals that treat each other to make you yearn to compare Dreamend to someone.. . - but you honestly know in your blissful heart that doing so would be all wrong. Follow that with the brief rocker that calls herself "Mary Cogswell & Fred Vaillancourt" - it lasts long enough for a females captured voice to state "I don't know.. . what's real any more" (I second that - medication can help) before Dreamend explode into assault territory; full drums & all six strings. A perfect freeze frame of a band inventing grand, illusive schemes.

The recording notes reveal Maybe we're making God sad and lonely was captured entirely in one evening, and only revisited on 2 occasions to add guitar and voice - that, itself, is a major fucking feat.

All wrapped up in the eco-friendly Arigato Pak! that has become the new digipak of late, original artwork and album title by William Schaff (GY!BE, Okkervil River) surrounds the disc - truly one of the greatest & most original offerings 2005 will see.

Buy it, hold it, hear it, keep it. Repeat steps 2 & 3 daily. Oh - me and that God cat had some beers last night - she's doing fine, just waiting for 2008 like all the rest of us peaceful brothers and sisters.

+ kaleb :: (08.29.05)

God, this is a beautiful CD.

I reviewed Dreamend's debut CD, "As if By Ghosts" about a year ago (August 2004) and I loved that one as well. There's something so dreamy and floaty about this music. I want to light candles, incense and lay on the floor with headphones on.

Last time I was blown away by their packaging and this time they toned it down a little but it's still a work of art. There is no jewel case, it's just a hard cardboard envelope with funky lovely artwork.

The music hasn't changed all that much. It's atmospheric, trippy and beautiful. Not much in the way of lyrics…well there might be, but unless you're really trying, that's not going to be a focal point for you. It's that wash of sound that will grab you most, I bet.

I do, however wish it had more tracks. But there are some that are pretty long, so though there are only 6 tracks, there is about 35 minutes of music. Lovely music.

Posted on August 26, 2005

Dreamend - Maybe We're making God Sad and Lonely (Graveface)
The wonderful Dreamend return with this 6-track album adorned by freakishly disturbing artwork. More instrumental than 'As If By Ghosts', there are less obvious 'songs' but more atmosphere and improvisation. Vocal samples feature heavily and there is an updated edgier version of 'Can't Take You'.

'Iceland' creates an eerie vibe with vocals that nearly don't exist at all - they just merge along with the guitars. Some serious drum kit punishment surfaces in 'Mary Cogswell and Fred Vaillancourt' and ' New Zealand' but never breaks out of the ethereal reverb that defines this album. Not one to instantly sing along to, more of a work to learn to love and embrace.

tasty

Maybe We're Making God Sad and Lonely belongs to that group of ambient bands that play music full of repeated one-note patterns that start out softly, but then gradually crescendo into electric guitar-ridden chaos. The feeling I think that they're trying to get at is modern isolation -- electric instruments imitate primitive ones like bells, barely masking their deception -- until they realize how fucked up life is, causing the drummer to summon an angst-releasing bashfest. The cacophony sometimes descends back to a frightened whisper, or else the band decides to leave us on the edge, with a distorted electric guitar now taking up the song's original pattern.

It is always unfair to stereotype any genre of music, but Dreamend does little to distinguish itself on this release. Secretly recorded last winter in their rehearsal space by singer/guitarist Ryan Manon, each song comes from the first take, with slight guitar overdubs done at a later date. As surprising as the spontaneity of the songs -- the band sounds quite together and flawless -- is the fact that none of the band members are friends outside the band. In fact, the three members live in Chicago, Vermont, and New Mexico. The fact that they can get together on-the-spot and play so cohesively (both technically and emotionally) is a testament to their musicianship and dedication.

I wish I liked this album more, because I like just about everything else about them. The album's box/linernotes/artwork is a treasure in itself. Not wasting a single square inch, Providence-based artist William Schaff designed a magnificent Arigato Pak (a self-contained recyclable origami-like carboard box) with a painted collage that compliments the band's sound. Also, Ryan Manon, when not playing with Dreamend, single-handedly runs the Graveface record label. This is no small feat, considering they have a roster of fourteen bands currently, as well as a print division. If that weren't enough, Manon has turned his back on written contracts in favor of verbal agreements and handshakes, which have proven both risky and costly. Even though I feel that the music lacks in originality and emotional connection, it's not due to lack of trying. Just give it thirty seconds, and see for yourself.

bigyawn

DREAMEND “Maybe We’re Making God Sad And Lonely” - Graveface Records [Nov 2005]
And then again maybe we’re not. With all the people dying lately, in Iraq, the tsunami, Pakistan earthquakes, Chechen terrorist attacks, hurricanes left and right - I doubt God is very lonely with all the new arrivals. However, Dreamend are a pensive and saturnine band, and their album title sets the stage for a panoply of changeable emotive states. Their instrumental space rock externalizes a range of emotions but a recurring one is elegiac. These six songs are almost as dreamlike as their Icelandic soulmates Sigur Ros, but when they include “found” vocal or spoken parts, like the southern matron recounting a ghost tale in “In Her Little Bed We Lay Her” they show affinity with Godspeed You! Black Emperor. There’s even a (nearly) straight ahead rocker in the power hitter position on this disc (track 3). It drifts into a radiation of chorus and delay pedals. The album closes with “New Zealand,” a song with a passage of crowing jubilation in the middle that must equal something like the joy one feels when they at last sight NZ after 16 hours in a plane over a vast ocean. This Dreamend record sees them establishing themself in the largescale epic music associated with the Toronto collectives, yet with a luminescence avoided by most of their heavier brethren. Fans of Mogwai, Stars, Sigur Ros and the Constellation catalog, check this out.

---Paul Leeds 8/11