Music For Dreaming & Playing by Kristin Miltner
Library Catalog Music Series, Vol. 8
LABEL: Asthmatic Kitty

At some distant point in a much-distant future, something like this will be used to filter through the airwaves of an arboretum on Venus. The Library Catalog Music Series continue their attempt to provide a play-by-play soundtrack to your life with volume eight, Music For Dreaming and Playing, composed by Oakland composer Kristin Miltner. The title is a bit off the mark, as the record comes across as much more introspective and meditative than dreamlike, but are steeped in beauty and ethereal float nonetheless.

Miltner is able to conjure a strikingly visual compositions that dance within fields vaguely outlined by artists such as Aphex Twin, BT, Autechre, Tomas Dvorak and Brian Eno. Indeed, the album would feel very much at home settled next to Eno's Music For Airports or BT's This Binary Universe. Music For Dreaming… is a series of set-dressings for environments that we can only imagine, at this point, except for maybe on top of the Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. There is an enveloping serenity and childlike exploration in the music that feels like being hundreds of miles above life.

At its best, there is an enveloping serenity and childlike exploration in the music that feels like being hundreds of miles above life. But as the album floats past the halfway point, motifs become redundant with alternate mixes that could have easily been replaced with entirely different compositions, even of the same length. The strong point of the record is clearly the first seven tracks, but they dominate enough of the playing time to keep the album alive and vital.

Music For Dreaming… has been paired with volume seven, Music For Paradise Armor, which, past the alluringly abstract title, is a somewhat disappointing collection of experimental blips and scratches with no real direction or musicality. Volume eight more than compensates, and while not being a tremendously revolutionary collection of music, will more than satisfy anyone looking for that perfect album for blue mornings.


REVIEWED BY NEIL LEVENS
NEIL’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “Altamont Pass” • “Dreaming Longing“ • “Aquarium”


MP3: “Dreaming Longing” (right-click & save)