Antonymes – The Licence to Interpret Dreams

Although it is his debut for Hidden Shoal Recordings,  the new album by Antonymes – “The Licence to Interpret Dreams“ – is in fact his second full album following up “Beauty Becomes the Enemy of the Future” (or third, if you also count “31: Before the Light Fails”, which was a special project in a limited edition of one (!), and only partly available as a digital download after that).

“The Licence to Interpret Dreams“  fits in perfectly with the best of the recent ‘post-classical’ releases and will have immediate appeal to listeners that also enjoy releases by artists like Johann Johannsson, Max Richter, Peter Broderick and Dustin O’Halloran.
But to leave it at that description would not do justice to the versatility of this album. It is not “just” a collection beautifully constructed post-classical chamber music.

From the beginning to the end, this album has a carefully constructed balance.
Starting with sparse piano chords in “A Fragile Acceptance”, it guides us along some amazing stylistical surprises, that also feature fragmented poetry, satie-esque piano music, church organ/harpsichord arrangements, dreamlike ambient sound, and a choir arrangement that could’ve easily been written for a Disney animation movie soundtrack.

Ian “Antonymes” Hazeldine is living in North Wales, UK, “a strange, fantastic, unreal place which is all it has ever been, legend spirit, mist and fluctuating stillness stretching back to a time and place where it was seemed like the beginning of a dream…” .
Like North Wales itself, the music on “The Licence to Interpret Dreams“  is a mixture of reality and dreamlike mysteries at the same time.
“It begins at the piano, where notes, space and intention, and something of the soul and the mind catching itself combine over time, until a shape appears, which suggests other shapes…”

Featuring contributions by Christoph Berg (Field Rotation) and James Banbury (on cello), “The Licence to Interpret Dreams” stands out from many other albums in this blooming genre of post-modern impressionism.

Release date: april, 21.

Antonymes – A Light from the Heavens