Album Review: Pieta Brown, ‘Dreamin’ Of’
When we slip into our dreams, we live momentarily in other worlds, our imaginations soaring kaleidoscopically through dark shadows and colorful landscapes. In our dreams, we live in alternate worlds filled with hope and possibilities, and we see things in ways that often provide clarity in our waking lives. Pieta Brown’s riveting new album, ‘Dreamin’ Of,’ evokes the wonder and the beauty—and sometimes the ugliness—imbedded in our dreams.
Rich layers of strings flow opulently underneath the somnolent waltz-like lullaby “Time of the Night,” the album’s opening track. The song is an ode to those nocturnal moments between waking and dreaming—the bar has long ago shut down—when the “world is full” of promise. Shimmering electric guitar slides over haunting acoustic strums on the upbeat, atmospheric “Was the One,” a look back at the distance between our past and our present, recalling the feelings associated with certain moments in our lives.
On the title track, crisp picking flows into a pattering syncopation that mimics the patterns of our dreams, while the cinematic “So May I,” with its sonic resemblance to Steely Dan, unfolds in circling poetic patterns in which one element, or person, flows into the other seamlessly. The ethereal poetry of “Nothin’ But Trouble” unfurls in echoing, spacious chamber folk, while “Laura” opens with a Joni Mitchell-like folk vibe before spiraling into a shuffling rock beat.
Amos Lee joins Brown for a soulful duet on “Drinkin’ Side.” The album closes with towering “Glitter Town,” an anthem to hope in the midst of a world falling apart around us. With her transportive vocals and lush instrumentation, Pieta Brown provides a mesmerizing soundtrack to our lives on ‘Dreamin’ Of.”
