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Dreamstate is a piece that came into being in December of 2021. All the material used originated from a solo improvisation session on my digital piano, recorded on a particularly dark winter night.  The sound of the digital piano is a glockenspiel layered with quite a windy organ sound. I make frequent use of the Sostenuto pedal and the pitch wheel. Of my four pieces, Dreamstate has the least conceptual framework behind it, and is the shortest. It was made in Ableton Live 11, of which a screenshot can be found at the bottom of this page.

I have noticed that my pieces generally aim to convey a certain mental state to the listener. In some sense, for me, this mental state is the composition, more so than the sound itself. It's not that I want to create a state of mind in the listener, but rather to directly pass my state of mind to them. I am as much in control of my state of mind as water is in control of flowing to the lowest point. Dreamstate is an example of this way of composing. Here, I want the listener to enter into a hypnagogic state, where they are entranced by the music and their minds. I want to invite them to enter a dream-like state for a couple of minutes, and then continue their day.

 

I stumbled upon this piece quite accidentally, deep into the night. I was exhausted, though the piano kept me awake. Then this simply appeared to me, very much like a dream might, in the sense that though you are the creator of every single dream you dream, none of us would claim to have actively shaped the phenomenon. It is a contingency. In exactly the same way, though I am the creator of this piece, the process by which I created it feels more unforeseen and even uncalculated. This similarity is why I titled the piece Dreamstate.

 

Those that listened closely will have heard a snippet of Morse code, acting as a bridge between section A and section B of the piece. The following phrase is played twice:

 

.-.. . - / --. --- / --- .-. / -... . / -.. .-. .- --. --. . -.

 

This means: “let go or be dragged”, a Zen proverb I once came across. This is my way of inviting the audience along for the ride, so to speak. I want to invite them to stop resisting; to stop trying to focus; to stop trying to listen, for then you will never understand the point of the piece;  to give in to the hypnosis; to let go, or be dragged.