Tim Foljahn - I Dreamed A Dream LP

Tim Foljahn - I Dreamed A Dream LP

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It’s not a dream — after more than five years, Tim Foljahn has returned
with a stunning new solo album, I Dreamed a Dream. His decades as a
highly in-demand guitarist — in the studio and on-stage — all the while
perfecting his own songwriting — are crystalized in this record. Foljahn’s
songcraft, guitar expertise, and seamless genre changeups are all back,
but imbued with a new sense of depth and beauty. Lyrically, the dream
of life is a recurring theme, along with disillusionment, and ultimately,
resurrection. The album is a mature, vital work; Foljahn draws not just
from his vaunted career in music, but also from the ever-shifting world
around us.
I Dreamed a Dream reunites Foljahn with noted producer/engineer/mixer
Tom Beaujour (Juliana Hatfield, Nada Surf, Jennifer O’Connor) who
worked on Tim’s previous releases Fucking Love Songs (Kiam, 2015) and
Songs for an Age of Extinction (Kiam, 2012). (Foljahn’s self-produced
instrumental soundtrack Dead River arrived in 2014.) Recording
occurred off and on over the past several years at Beaujour’s New Jerseybased
Nuthouse studio. (Cut Tim some slack; he was also earning a
Masters in psychoanalysis, when not playing in Assistant Warden
Caputo's band Sideboob on the hit show Orange Is the New Black.)
Beaujour and Foljahn’s producer-musician relationship has evolved into
something just short of telepathy; as Tim has refined his writing, singing,
and playing, Tom has complemented him
sonically.
Although releasing work as a solo artist for the past decade, Foljahn has
always thrived on collaboration. With Sonic Youth drummer Steve
Shelley and a rotating cast of bandmates, he put out five diverse and
critically-acclaimed albums as Two Dollar Guitar. His distinctive guitar
tone has graced records by Cat Power, Half Japanese, Thurston Moore,
and many others, and Tim has performed live with greats such as
Townes Van Zandt and Boredoms. For I Dreamed a Dream, Foljahn
reconvenes with two of his longtime Two-Dollar teammates:
bassist/arranger Jeremy Wilms (TV on the Radio, Julian Velard, etc.)
and the internationally renowned Danish/Spanish/New York vocalist
Christina Rosenvinge, who’s had an album produced by Lee Ranaldo of
Sonic Youth. (Rosenvinge is also a longtime outspoken critic of sexism in
the music industry.) On drums is the sublime Brian Kantor (Fruit Bats,
Vetiver), who had also contributed to Fucking Love Songs.
Oh, and there are strings, luscious strings. Wilms’ meticulous
arrangements for Meagan Gould (violin/viola) and Danton Boller (double
bass/cello) run parallel to one another, dancing in and out of formation.
Nowhere is this more clearly displayed than on the perfect instrumental
miniature “I Dreamed:.” Gould and Boller’s precise playing flavors several
tracks here, including the gorgeous opener, “Once.” It kicks off with
spare plucking, before Foljahn — with his rich, warm voice — delivers
the opening words: “I once made love to the/most beautiful of al/lonely
women in the world.” It’s only the first example on an album full of
compelling, thoughtful lyrics. (Go ahead, psychoanalyze the
psychoanalyst!) Guitar comes to the forefront in “Low Down Day,” a
country-flavored tune with a shuffling beat, as the narrator contemplates
inner darkness.
The rhythm section of Wilms and Kantor anchors the loping groove of
“Ghost Ripper,” as Foljahn unleashes two killer solos. “Remember Me,
My Love” is a propulsive rocker — until the strings give it a psychedelic
twist. That’s followed by the raw electric blues of “Wake Up” (from the
album’s titular dream — because the girl is gone, daddy, gone). The
bouncy “I Can’t Decide” contains a much sunnier lie-l-lie refrain than the
one in Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” (The song previously appeared
in much grungier form on Rough Trade Publishing’s 2017 indie all-star
compilation A Song a Day, which benefited the Southern Poverty Law
Center.)
All the performers get to stretch out over nearly six-and-a-half minutes of
the majestic, Leonard Cohen-haunted “Day Is Done.” Ah, but the album
isn’t done quite yet. For we succumb once more to the unconscious
world in the swirling, hypnotic “In My Dreams.” A subtle African beat.
Two guitars chase each other’s tails, one phased, one twanging. Ghostly
backing vocals. Wheezing electronics. And then… it’s gone. Was it all a
dream? No, it’s the great Tim Foljahn.