daniel Admon - KEEP DREAMING

Daniel Admon

Keep Dreaming 
self-released; 2012

3.7 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Keep Dreaming by Daniel Admon was the result of a spontaneous gathering of musicians in the night between the 26th and the 27th of May 2011. What might be most interesting about the album is that “the musicians did not hear the music before that night and what you hear on this album is the captured primal musical ideas and feelings that the musician felt and played.” While the concept is interesting the album is little more than an acoustic guitar and Admon’s vocals. The music itself is one of the saddest records I have heard since I See a Darkness by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. There are eight songs on this record and each one of them features a good amount of melancholy, nostalgia as well as beauty .

Admon starts with a declaration as he sings: “All I know is that I don't know anything, I'm only swimming in a pond. How can I know what is fiction what is real? How can I know what I'm to feel?” on “I need you.” The song is so intimately sung it was on the verge of making me uncomfortable even though I was listening to it through a pair of speakers. The way he picks the guitar it seems as if he is barely plucking the strings and the way he sings is hardly above a whisper. “I’m not O.K” begins with the lyrics “One day I will find my way. I don't know when. All I know is that I'll find it my friend,” and in combination with the melody, and the song title it could be contender for tearjerker of the year.

Another song is “Scared” is which Admon sings slightly optimistic lyrics of distant piano notes and lightly picked acoustic guitar. The last song on the album “You feel like home” provides a bit of solace and hope. He sings, “I may thinks many things but I just need your love. And tonight I feel I found the truth. For me you feel like home. With you I feel I'm right back home. With you I feel I'm right back home.”

This is an album that sometimes makes Elliott Smith seem like Vampire Weekend and isn't something you are going to want to pop in at a party. In fact this soft and nostalgic album is best enjoyed by yourself on a Sunday morning.

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