Dreams can come true. Should they? Different question. Sometimes are dreams that haunt you or the wet dreams of music nerds like us. However, instrumental music can become the soundtrack of our dreams – and when you listen to Traum‘s self-titled debut, it combines many of these ideas. It also unites a huge musical scope under its dreamy elegant feathers, from Post-Metal to Krautrock.
When listening to Traum and their self-titled debut, many people might be confronted by the fleeting memories of the dreams you suffered from or enjoyed before waking up in a state of mental confusion about the reality of what just happened or where you are right now. The eight tracks display nearly every shade of dream one might be wrapped in:
The paranoid nightmare. Consisting of a haunting feeling of being followed, nearly questioning your own sanity because “You’re being silly, silly. Nobody is following you. You are way too unimportant for that…!” But why are these sounds slowly creeping up your neck, then? The soundscapes at the opening of ”Katabasis” seem to crawl in on you. Onto you. Moving upwards and simultaneously sending shivers down your spine. Sometimes it sounds like a mixture of one of these psychedelic moments in Apocalypse Now (remember the jungle scenes!), Vangelis’ soundtrack for Blade Runner and one of these movies that “depict” old Latin American civilizations as so primitive and bad (might be Gibson’s awful Apocalypto). Of course these dreams often result in…
The “running but not moving” kind of dream. Listen to the drum beat of ”Inner Space”, which also follows ”Katabasis” and you will recognize the Post-Punk element of these kinds of dreams. The drums are being pounded ever so often, but when the vast, wide-spreading synth elements open up, one sees that the spot you have been trying to escape is the same as before; the only difference is, that the fog has been lifted, you see the vast plain and know that, there is no escape: You have to give in to the song and, well, dance. Maybe that’s the best thing to do in such desperate situations.
Nonetheless, you also get those sweaty dreams loaded with imagery and hidden messages and will never understand those without a deeper training in psychoanalysis (or a deep understanding of the human sex drive if you want to be a Freudian follower). The equivalent on this record might be the opener ”Kali Yuga” because this song has so many levels, from tribal drums to amazing open guitar work in the likes of some of the 70s and 80s masters whose instruments always sounded like a crossover between a guitar and a keyboard when they went into full-solo-mode. When the guitar then glides from solo into heavy riffing you once more seem to get another, more Noise-influenced image. Somewhere between Russian Circles, Marillion and Dream Theater. Sounds strange? Definitely! Does it work? Indeed.
How can it be that all of these different dimensions and passages, pieces and details align well on this record? Well, first of all, because there is no lyrical limitation, which also results in all members of the band having their say. Moreover, when you have people who worked in bands like Zu, Lento and other famous Italian outfits, that also implies that the people working this record really know what they do, they have the skills, the experience and the wish to implement a new manifesto in Krautrock, an exemplary Space-Rock odyssey through sounds and space, where each new cosmos also reflects the inner-most human emotions, fears and desires. An outside perspective on the human psyche. Or, simply a “dream come true” for people who love the absurd and all things off the beaten paths. I am pretty glad, that Traum has been turned into a reality and does not have to meander along the fading glimpses of the night’s journey.
