Premiere: Listen To FM Skyline’s Impressionistic New Track “Dream Tape”
Tomorrow, February 8th, the cathodic musical project FM Skyline will release their latest record, Advanced Memory Suite, on the Pittsburgh record label Business Casual. A sequel to 2017’s Deluxe Memory Suite™, the nine-track record contains lush electronic compositions that glissade through vaporwave aesthetics and synthpop tones to deliver something vibrant and resonant.
Today, we at The Auricular are proud to premiere a track from this record, the exuberant impressionistic composition “Dream Tape,” available to listen in this article followed by a short Q&A with FM Skyline mastermind Pete Curry.
“Dream Tape” is an evocative electronic ode to a forgotten medium. Framed by rewinding and fast-forwarding tones, the listener is dropped into the song mid-form as it careens off a sea of effusive electronica. A simple, restrained melody wobbles over the tonal waves, masked by the profusive nature of the song’s sonic swelling. The boundless nature of the song coupled with the irregular beginning and end point to an infinite nature, much like the recording medium that washes in and out of the public consciousness, but never truly fades.
Advanced Memory Suite is available digitally and on vinyl this Friday, February 8th through Business Casual. Until then, enjoy this exclusive stream of “Dream Tape” and read our quick chat with Pete Curry regarding the reminiscent nature of both the song and record.
“Dream Tape” doesn’t seem to begin or end — it’s just there and the listener is dropped into it, mid-pulsation. Do you think this style of music lends itself to this type of snapshot music, as opposed to a unified beginning, middle, and end?
Yeah, this style of music definitely lends itself to that kind of composition — a lot of what I’m doing here is inspired by a style of music that began mostly sampled, which in turn has surreal ways of affecting your sense of time, and breaking up the traditional linear narrative is just one way that happens.
In relation to the title, do you feel this song exists more abstractly like the title implies, or is it something concrete and tangible?
It’s very much impressionistic, in the same way that Debussy (who I’ve loved forever) would name his compositions “Reflections on the water” or “the sounds and perfumes of the night air.” The impression here is of an old VHS tape being started up.
How does “Dream Tape” work within the theme and concept of the rest of the record?
All of the tracks on the album deal with “memory” in some way, some in a literal way and others in a personal way. This one is more literal, referring to an actual recording medium.
