Land of Dreams
Land of Dreams (2020) is the sixth full-length album released under my ambient, drone, plunderphonic, and vaporwave project Kevin. It differs from my previous projects under the name in that it contains almost no sampled material - it was composed from the ground up using traditional techniques.
The album is in 2 acts, one for each side of a cassette tape. The A side (a 5-part suite) coalesces from ethereal suspension into steadfast clarity, while the B side (a single unbroken statement) simmers in a mellow rhythmic groove that drifts in and out of focus. While writing the album, I was very inspired by the hypnotic repetition that permeates ambient music, as well as the hypnagogic direction that vaporwave (and its even more washed-out child, slushwave) takes those repetitive structures. As one friend lovingly put it, Land of Dreams is the embodiment of the "endless elevator" - a patient transitory space between two places.
I wrote these pieces on paper, transferred them to notation software, and rendered out each individual instrument as stems. I then treated those stems just like I would any other piece of sampled audio as an electronic artist - applying affects, cutting, rearranging, and shaping the sound into something different and otherworldly.
The cassette release contains 2 bonus tracks not present in the digital version, one at the end of each side.
You can find the full album for purchase as a digital download or cassette on bandcamp. You can also read a review/synopsis of the album on the experimental net-music blog listencorp.