Album Notes

Recorded during the first few months of 2004, "Dream" is a most appropriate title for the second solo CD from Japanese bassist/guitarist and composer Ken Sasaki.
A sublime instrumental soundtrack for that meditative interlude time between slumber and awakening, faculty and fantasy, "Dream" is an elusive sound excursion into a musical phantasmagoria where reality and reverie merge to form an alternate view.

Commenting on the instrumentation, Ken adds, "I played basses and guitars with spacy/ambient synth sequences. I wanted to mix opposite elements-machine sounds and acoustic human tones-like machine drums and double bass, synth and acoustic guitar. Some tunes are very abstract and some tunes are very simple and human. Those elements are mixed in the album like seeing dreams."

Ken's 2002 solo CD, "Tiki Moon" by Kenny Sasaki & The Tiki Boys, featured a composite of tropical/exotic sounds with vintage instruments and on "Dream" he takes a convincing musical step forward.
In the spirit of the surrealistic "Dream" album art by Ken's friend Hidenori Ishida, the accent here is on tranquil electronic soundscapes more reminiscent of Brian Eno and Ennio Morricone than the Hawaiian Isles.

Describing his musical mission on "Dream", Ken adds, "I recorded and mixed in my home studio by myself. The new album is a very private work. I made tunes like dream paintings on white canvases with musical instruments instead of brushes and a color box." Further reflecting on his most imaginative solo recording yet, Ken admits, "I like music that takes me to somewhere, some dimensions I haven't visited or experienced".

The extraterrestrial musical terrain may be intriguing, yet there's a haunting feeling of de-ja vu in play on "Dream", bringing you back home and yet again, to somewhere you've never quite been before.

Liner notes by Robert Silverstein
New York City, August 2004
Robert Silverstein is the reviews editor of 20th Century Guitar magazine and www.mwe3.com
www.tcguitar.com
www.mwe3.com