Phantasmos the Data - Reverie Aeon

​Phantasmos the Data

Reverie Aeon
self-released; 2023

​​By ​Dino DiMuro

Reverie Aeon is the debut album by a 30-year-old Croatian artist known only by his band name, Phantasmos the Data. The artist states that he’s also a street dance choreographer and teacher, but has no “music accomplishments” thus far and hopes to find an audience with a new genre he calls “gloom.”

Describing what “gloom” means, the artist calls it “instrumental, atmospheric, melancholic. It blends ethereal melodies, atmospheric sounds, melancholic feelings and introspective themes. Reverie Aeon invites listeners to explore their authenticity and the enigmatic nature of existence.” Though I like when musicians create their own genre, this music was not exactly “gloomy” to me. I’d call it electronic, ethereal, sci-fi, hypnotic and dreamlike.

The album was designed, mixed and mastered totally on the artist’s laptop. In general the sound is very clean though I noticed it wreaks havoc with cheap speakers. This is a lengthy album with 15 tracks averaging four minutes each so I’ll discuss some highlights.

“The Purple Gloom” opens the album and gives us a chance to hear the musical tools at use: mainly analog-sounding synth patches with those Moog-like growls, crystalline trills and deep booms. The main melody is like a sad (or should I say gloomy) child’s lullaby. Some of the sounds suggest an outpost on Mars. “Gloom Era” is built around the beat with the synth trills following along, building misshapen melodies and interesting, almost accidental harmonies. There’s a definite musical progression here which is kind of thrilling once you finally grasp it. 

“Reverie Trail” is based on an electric keyboard melody with some of those same sounds from the previous tracks skittering around in the background. One backing pattern sounds like waves of musical cicadas. There’s also a trap-like beat toward the end. “Gloaming” suggests a Fender Rhodes and vibes while futuristic insects run back and forth. “The Gray Bloom” features an impressive grand piano sample, amazingly played on a laptop. There’s also heavenly choirs of space angels and the requisite bleeps and growls, but overall this one is the closest to John Carpenter’s movie themes.

“Photo Vesper” is the electronic version of kick drum and finger snaps. The descending synth melodies are almost in a dog’s hearing range, though as the track progresses the melodic lines settle more within comfortable hearing and are quite beautiful. “Aevum” is like a church service on Saturn, with a static-filled wind blowing at the windows. The main melody reminded me of Paul Simon’s “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.”

“The Gloom Carnival” is a fun track that really does sound like an otherworldly carnival featuring alien animals in cages rolling by for our entertainment, though they seem to get a little angry toward the end. “Ecliptra” continues this slightly disturbing trend with a bed of what sounds like trapped souls crying out from space. “Nebula Oracle” is what a jazz trio in a parallel universe might sound like. In “Temporal Mortality” the extraneous sounds we’ve been hearing seem to become almost conversational, while the synth sounds lean toward trumpet and organ timbres, with metallic percussion hits.

​Everything I’ve said here barely scratches the surface of all that’s going on within these tracks. New, different and exciting music waiting to be heard!

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