Sundance Dreams

Ambient/experimental. Lots of flavors of synth from one of the former members of the Emeralds. As Mark describes it, “Sundance Dreams is a 90-minute catalog of night visions which took place in and around ceremonies between 2016 and 2017.” Mark’s albums are great if you like densely layered synth, weird counter-rhythms, and repetition doesn’t faze you. His music feels kind and gentle, though never schmaltzy. Great organic, complicated sound.

Try 8, 6, 9. If you want something drony, 1 is good. For something dissonant, try 3.

1) “Celestial Portal of Creation Woman” (4:06): Peaceful, quiet synth. Harmonic chords.
2) “Web Tuning” (2:40): Nicely unbalanced rhythms, very synthy.
3) “The Lightning Elk” (6:04): More dissonance, screechy synth. Lots of scales and arpeggios pushing against each other from opposite directions.
4) “Just Trust!” (12:16): Lively, repetitive synth. Quite urgent. Densely layered.
5) “Red Spider & The Orange” (9:43): Some piano sneaks into this one, as well as some guitar plucking. Almost waltzlike.
6) “Southern Heist” (7:18): Dreamlike but engaging. Dancelike. Great.
7) “The Tower of Illusion” (3:40): Hurried synth rushes along in the background. Decays and slows down in the second half.
8) “Grounded (Free & Flying)” (9:18): Less dissonant than some of the other tracks. Synth repeats uplifting melody while counterpoints tangle around in the background.
9) “We Would Have Won” (11:53): Cheerful dancing synth which becomes wonkier at the end.
10) “Take It To The Tree” (10:49): Begins with dense, indistinct sound. In the second half, becomes brighter and more shimmering.
11) “Carries Your Problems Away Man” (9:04): Big drifting synth in the beginning. Second half acquires a lot of momentum and has more of a bubbly friendly synth.

-- Mr. Tumnus