Dream Logic, out June 18, 2021, via Orindal Records and We Be Friends, is Matt Bachmann’s newest album – a hypnotic blend of teary ambient-pop songs and cinematic instrumentals.
The album was recorded mostly alone at his apartment in Brooklyn, as well as the nearby Black Lodge Studio with Bachmann shaping sounds using guitar pedals or his cassette console’s Varispeed functions, slowing down or speeding up tracks to interesting results. Influenced by his years playing bass and recording with Hand Habits and Mega Bog, Bachmann enlisted a large cast of players to fill out the record with decorative charms. Kyle Boston (Guitar) and Brady Custis (Production/Guitar) helped lay the foundation for Dream Logic’s textual roux before Mega Bog’s Derek Baron (Drums), Will Murdoch (Synths), James Krivchenia – also of Big Thief – (Percussion) and others added their signature spices to the sonic cauldron.
Though lyrically sparse, Bachmann makes what is uttered on Dream Logic truly count. His sad reflections and hazy rearview images indirectly illuminate some of the more difficult moments from his life, in particular, the loss of his father in 2013 to Lou Gehrig’s disease, “I think that loss has taken a long time to digest and it’s interesting that sometimes things digest in songs before they do in my mind,” explains Bachmann.
This first single, the exuberant, vibraphone-heavy “Apple Pie” acts as a vital cornerstone to the record, signposting a tribute to his father’s baking hobby that he continued even as his mind began to deteriorate. “His apple pies have been a kind of a fixation of mine over the last ten years; I’ve written a short story about them and the eulogy I gave at his funeral centered around his pies,” says Matt. “ALS is a disease that first affects your ability to speak before affecting your ability to move and eventually all of your bodily functions. During one of the last Christmases he was still able to move, we baked together and he was adding ingredients almost randomly it seemed – he didn’t seem with it and I was sure the pie was going to taste terrible but lo and behold, it ended up tasting great. It was one of those reminding moments that below the fog of ALS, he was still there. He would surprise you like that at times.”
Sounds on the record play into the semantics of the album title with Bachmann switching off the editing side of his brain to produce something which saddles closer to the subconscious and "dream logic", opting to follow his nose rather than overthink. Dream Logic presents an array of material that pivots on moments of contemplation, drifting into memories of his youth fusing glowing electronic modalities with vivid imagery.
Fans of Bachmann’s last two (and vastly different) Orindal releases – Walking Preference (2019) and Unconditional Love (2018) – will appreciate the way Dream Logic manages to expand on both. “Up until this record, I had carefully contained my musical styles into neat collections – recording songwriting material under the moniker Big Eater, recording jazz-oriented instrumental music under the moniker Pachanga, and recording repetitive melodic drone music under my own name,” says Bachmann. “The guiding principle behind Dream Logic was to integrate these modalities of music-making, allowing whatever was going to come out to come out, and not worry if it made sense.”
Dream Logic will be available in LP and digital formats from Orindal Records & We Be Friends on June 18, 2021.
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