Upstream Dream by Slow Meadow
Immersing anew into Slow Meadow’s world of nostalgic and awe-struck ambience, Upstream Dream captivates with serene kaleidoscopic beauty. With a core of Upstream Dream composed around the time of 2019’s Happy Occident, this release will feel strangely familiar and new at once, with subliminal recognition piquing curiosity while ethereal soundscapes take shape and an enveloping warmth takes hold. Soft electronics, bearing otherworldly tones and, at times, a sense of playful mischief, subtly shift expectations and bring discovery and wonder at every turn.
As composer Matt Kidd’s first wholly new music since 2020’s By the Ash Tree, Upstream Dream bookends a period of creative output that introduced Kidd’s vision of calming and meditative ambient music. With a foundation of piano, string orchestration, and an ever-evolving electronic palette, Slow Meadow has traversed the borders of neoclassical and minimalist electronics, delivering a deeply personal and transportive experience that speaks directly to the ebbs and flows and mundanity and marvels of life. With sublime patience, understated elegance, and surreal atmosphere, Slow Meadow savors the present, remembers the past, and imagines what could be.
Tracklist
| 1. | Adorned in Ribbons | 5:30 |
| 2. | A Light Without Flame | 3:23 |
| 3. | Tethered to the Earth | 4:31 |
| 4. | A Tiny Ripple That Becomes a Giant Wave | 3:32 |
| 5. | Upstream Dream | 4:16 |
| 6. | Tragedy of the Commons (Alternate Version) | 4:18 |
Videos
Credits
Production/Engineering/Mixing/Piano/Synth/Guitar: Matt Kidd
Additional production work/consulting: Hammock, Marc Byrd
Mastering: Joe Lambert joelambertmastering.com
Violins: Ellen Story, Maxine Kuo, Joanna Becker
Viola: Yvonne Smith
Cellos: Aimee Norris, Katie Beth Harry
Trumpet: Theo Juarez
Drums/percussion: Jay Snider
Vocals: Tank Lisenbe
Album art: Vanessa Pla, Matt Kidd
Video/8mm Film for Upstream Dream: Vanessa Pla
Motion art for A Light Without Flame: Cian Hogan (Movement: Kya Bliss)
Drone video for Adorned in Ribbons: Stephen Proctor
Kaleidoscope visuals: Constrvct Visuals
License
All rights reserved.
Slow Meadow is ambient compositions from multi-instrumentalist Matt Kidd. After working as a touring / session musician since the early 2000s, Matt took a serious interest in creating music focused less on performance and more on inner experience. Slow Meadow began when Kidd befriended Marc Byrd of Hammock, who signed Slow Meadow to his label, Hammock Music, and released his debut in 2015.