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review by Dene Bebbington Here's another album of gentle ambient music from R.D.Jansen. My experience from hearing a couple of his other albums is that the music tends to grow on one after several listens. To be honest, the first time I heard one of his albums I thought "this is okay but somewhat boring," so it was a surprise to eventually appreciate the nuances and gentleness which permeates his music. Saying that, I still find it surprising how some pieces of music which I initially find uninspiring can eventually become enjoyable and enduring. In contrast, there is some music which grabbed me right from the start but lost its listening value too quickly. Such is the way of the world! The special thing about ambient music, and instrumental music in general, is that the listener can create his own mental images and experience feelings that weren't necessarily what the artist had in mind when creating the music. After reading the liner notes I can attest to this being the case with some tracks on What Dreams Are Made Of. One example is "Dorado" which is inspired by the "Summer of Love" that Robert spent in San Francisco in 1967, but which evokes for me memories of one late night stood at the front of a cruise boat on the river Nile. The track "Dorado" has a modest rhythm and generates a sense of flow by constantly coming and going airy vocal sounds, a bit like those you get when blowing across the top of a bottle. My gut reaction to this album was to think of actual dreams even though it is apparently inspired by both real dreams and aspirational dreams. Listening to it conjured up feelings and "thoughts" one would have in pleasant dreams - certainly the music has a slightly whimsical and magical quality. Only in one track called "Flow" - which has a mid-tempo rhythm and is the liveliest piece - does the mood really rise above the pleasant daydreamy aural landscape. I can recommend What Dreams Are Made Of to ambient fans who don't mind having to "work" at an album in order to get the most out of it. |
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