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Although the term "lucid dreaming" was coined in 1913, people throughout history have recorded their experiences of lucidity while asleep. In 415 AD, St Augustine told of a Roman physician named Gennadius who became conscious of his sleep through discussions with a dream guide. Studies show that 58 percent of the population has experienced a lucid dream at some time in their lives. Aphex Twin's Richard D. James not only claims that he hears music in his dreams -- he claims that he wrote the majority of Selected Ambient Works Volume II through lucid dreaming. Whether or not this is true, the electronic genius masterfully manipulates human emotion through sound, and it would be fitting that this volume's tones and beats came from dreamland.
When it was first released, SAWVII was panned by critics. One unsatisfied critic not only said that the music collected here was unlistenable, but bashed the packaging and the song titles, or lack of them, saying, "I can appreciate the esoteric namelessness and cryptic communication... but on the other, more practical hand, it's a bit annoying." True, there are eleven tracks here without names, and even the named ones offer little explanation with regards to their musical content. The elaborate soundscapes James created for this collection deserve to be judged on their own merit. Using a variety of phasing and sound manipulation techniques, James built layers of strange harmonies, indistinguishable tones, and ambient beats; he has succeeded beyond measure at creating a profound sound.
As haunting as it is pleasurable to experience, the double CD's opening track echoes and sways with tone, piano, and what may be a female voice. This song gives way to another that is somehow even more hypnotic. As the collection progresses, you'll find yourself dipping ever deeper into an ethereal world of sound. Despite the music's minimalism, there is a cinematic quality to it: the album's rhythm is a slow, measured breathing, perhaps suggesting a sleeping child. Vivid pictures and ideas are likely to fill the mind as each song rings like the soundtrack to a daydream.
A closer look at Aphex Twin's work reveals an authoritative knowledge of the finer points in experimental music history. SAWVII would never have been made had it not been for Steven Reich's 1976 minimalist masterpiece Music for 18 Musicians. James's mesmerizing repetitive rhythms are strongly reminiscent of Reich's work, but he has publicly stated that he cares little for Reich. He likens himself to Stockhausen, a man who blessed the music world with a piece written for four short wave radios.
When I listen to this album, I hear the sounds of the past. I hear memory. I hear human thought. As a child and young adult, I was riddled with a variety of sleeping disorders, including occasional night terrors. Many of my dreams were lucid dreams, and I truly hear those dreams in the tones, phasing, beats and manipulated voices of this magnificent work. Part of the experience of lucid dreaming is the sensation that your present is your past. In one dream, as I stood on a precipice overlooking the ocean, there was a young boy sleeping in his bed. The young boy was my past, but he was also my present. When I listen to SAWVII's twenty three unnamed tracks, I am reminded of that sensation of duplicity, dreaming and wakefulness added to the irrelevance of time.
The human mind is a beautiful thing, and James captures its complexity with a field recording of thought. Despite, or more likely because of the fact that it lacks recognizable words, harmonies or instruments, James's compelling 150 minute-plus collection is surely worth its price. If nothing else, try falling asleep to it; while you dream to Volume II, I'll be dreaming of Volume III.
-- John Herman
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