Dylan Henner\u00a0<\/strong>imagines finding such a station, broadcasting memories of his seventeen-year-old self in all its glory and angst; the evocative track titles are like diary entries, the music an unusual blend of robotic vocal, choir, music and filtered frequencies. Listeners may be returned to their own childhoods, especially older listeners who once turned the radio dial late at night just to see what might be on, and found delights on the far edges of the dial. \u00a0To be seventeen is to be between childhood and adulthood, between home and away, between what one has always been and what one will become; one can imagine this as a particularly welcoming time for fantasy, reverie and dream. \u00a0The occasional DJ clip brings things back to earth, while the associations with church music lift the spirit to the skies.<\/p>\nAs noted in our Fall Music Preview, the track titles are exquisite. \u00a0We\u2019re keeping a running list of our favorite track titles this year, which now include (in order of release):<\/p>\n
Max Cooper<\/strong>, \u201cI Am in a Church in Gravesend Listening to Old Vinyl and Drinking Coffee\u201d
GoGo Penguin,\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cBackground Hiss Reminds Me of Rain\u201d
Okkyung Lee,\u00a0<\/strong>\u201clying here half awake, i hear kids outside laughing with their hearts and i think this must be the end then\u2026\u201d
Yara Asmar,\u00a0<\/strong>\u201ceveryone I love is sleeping and I love them so much\u201d
Dylan Henner,\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI Borrowed my Dad\u2019s Car But We Had Nowhere To Go So We Drove Around Listening to Music All Night\u201d<\/p>\nThe latter track launches this album. \u00a0A quick jingle is followed by the sense of being between stations, in this case a metaphor for the time of life. \u00a0Are angels flying above, watching over the uncertain adolescent? \u00a0In the third track, the association is even more palpable, the call sign of 102.7 greeted by soaring choir and electronic harp. \u00a0Henner seems not only to be reclaiming memories, but sprinklng them with glitter until they glow.<\/p>\n
At the midpoint of the album, the dial continues to turn, catching non-English frequencies and fragments of song. \u00a0Henner superimposes his own song, which enters in waves. \u00a0One thinks of the ways in which one reassesses and redefines one\u2019s own experiences, given the perspective of time. The marimba becomes the album\u2019s defining instrument, its timbre soothing and smooth. \u00a0If one were to discover one\u2019s adolescence playing on a radio station, would one recognize it? \u00a0Henner\u2019s blessing is that he does, and embraces it all the more. \u00a0(Richard Allen)<\/strong><\/p>\n
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<\/a>Star Dream FM\u00a0<\/em>is a curiosity, an aural record of a radio station that doesn\u2019t exist, miraculously brought to life. \u00a0Dylan Henner\u00a0<\/strong>imagines finding such a station, broadcasting memories of his seventeen-year-old self in all its glory and angst; the evocative track titles are like diary entries, the music an unusual blend of robotic vocal, choir, music and filtered frequencies. Listeners may be returned to their own childhoods, especially older listeners who once turned the radio dial late at night just to see what might be on, and found delights on the far edges of the dial. \u00a0To be seventeen is to be between childhood and adulthood, between home and away, between what one has always been and what one will become; one can imagine this as a particularly welcoming time for fantasy, reverie and dream. \u00a0The occasional DJ clip brings things back to earth, while the associations with church music lift the spirit to the skies.<\/p>\n