Cornelius’s seventh studio album, Dream in Dream, falls more in line with the Japanese multi-instrumentalist’s previous release, 2017’s largely ambient Mellow Waves, than any of his earlier (and livelier) efforts, and the two back-to-back albums point to an emerging late-period trend toward minimalism. But while Mellow Waves stripped Cornelius’s sound down to its most essential elements, Dream in Dream effectively leverages his keen compositional abilities with his ear for catchy pop melodies.
Opener “Change and Vanish” kicks things off with a misdirection of sorts: After a brief bit of distorted reverb, it seems as if the entirety of track might be composed of just a few sour synthesizer notes, but cascading synth arpeggios eventually bubble through the sparse mix. The same kind of bait-and-switch can be found on the muzzy “Environmental,” whose backend is suddenly filled with 8-bit-era chiptuned notes and woozy electronics.
“Too Pure,” on the other hand, revels in its relatively straightforward pleasures, as the song slowly builds off of permutations of a few simple chord progressions toward a vociferous climax—albeit one that never quite makes it there since the track continually cuts back to simple strumming. Which isn’t to suggest that Cornelius has lost his edge, but Dream in Dream isn’t terribly interested in flashy theatrics or truly bold statements (the closest it gets to one is on “All Things Must Pass,” but the song’s lyrics about impermanence feel undercooked).
Perhaps, then, it’s best to consider Dream in Dream as a romantic collection of richly textured indietronica rather than an audacious next step for Cornelius. After two decades, expecting him to repeat himself wouldn’t just be wrongheaded but misses the point entirely: The music on Dream in Dream points to an artist interested solely in marching to the beat of his own drum.
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