Behind the Song: Dreamland

The song Dreamland was written entirely in that space between waking and dreaming...

I know it sounds a bit cliche, but I let the moment guide me. I kept the idea in its purest form, knowing it would maintain a child like sense of wonder. Most of my songwriting has a dreamlike quality, like the words and stories live outside of me in an ether of collective unconscious. The meaning is constantly morphing and can be personally interpreted as needed.

But this song, Dreamland, was direct and pure and joyous. I am not used to that, so I really wanted to honor its essence.

One night, as I lay with my eyes closed and my mind busy, knowing I had to wake up early - so I HAD to fall asleep - (meaning I couldn’t) - I fell into that space between waking and dreaming. I felt almost stuck there; like I knew I wasn’t fully awake or fully asleep. It was a bit like floating. My mind was disconnected from my body, but also captive to it.

It was in this strange altered state that the entirety of the song Dreamland downloaded into my being. I heard every word and saw every note as they danced before my second sight.

Once the song fully realized itself in my dream state, I forced myself to fully wake up! Such an odd experience to wake oneself up, and from such a lovely space. I immediately wrote it all down and somehow managed to remember the melody the next morning - it was truly burned into my mind at that point.

I quickly set about composing it with the Mellotron - and as you listen, you will notice that I kept very close to the melody in order to capture the feeling I had in my dream. As Augustus and I began to play it together, we focused on developing this feeling even further - floating, but not too far away, still within reach of consciousness, but slightly out of control.

It was such a pleasant, candy-coated dream and now I can revisit it every time I listen to the recording.

And you can too - do you feel like you are bouncing on clouds inside a dream when you listen to this song? Or does it evoke the feeling of a memory that maybe was just a dream?