Dreams do not end in the moment of awakening. Guided by their own recurrent dreams and the fascination of why we dream what we dream, Lucy Liyou composed a taut thirty-five-minute boundless crescendo of sound that's captured on their album Dog Dreams (개꿈). Today the album was released on the experimental Chicago-based label American Dreams.
Consisting of three long stretched tracks, the album Dog Dreams (개꿈) is a rumination on the double sidedness of trauma and love, on how one does not undercut the other, but is rather interlocked in an affective dialectic. By synthesising field recordings, text-to-speech readings, poetry, and elements from Korean P’ansori music, Lucy Liyou brings together a musical narrative that sheds light on their own recurrent dreams and the forgotten desires that play up when their body has entered the unconscious state of rest.
The album is coproduced alongside musician Nick Zanca, who also accompanied Liyou on stage during Rewire 2023, and was completed in his studio in Ridgewood, New York. Throughout the recording process, Liyou and Zanca improvised on the spur, allowing images conjured up by Liyou’s memories to proliferate into more daydreams, flights of fancy, and unbound, speculative whimsy.
Listen to the album:
Curious about what drives and inspires the work of Lucy Liyou? Prior to their performance at Rewire 2023, Lucy Liyou reflected on their work and their unique approach to traditional Korean P’ansori music. Read here.