In the study of core neurological mechanisms, there are three sound epistemological standpoints concerning the interpretation of dreams. The first portrays images or simulations experienced while sleeping as mere effervescence that lack any specific purpose or reason for occurring, repercussions of jumbled neuronic backfiring that hold no scientific weight in terms of content analysis. The second purports to a notion that what we experience in the subliminal mind during sleep is a consequence of the brain performing necessary refreshes or housekeeping — MTV highlights playing repeatedly on a background YouTube window while defragmenting the C: drive. The final and considerably Freudian exposition is that subconscious visions shed miraculous light on an individual’s character and should therefore be reported, studied, and analyzed in an attempt to uncover information regarding those on the metaphorical couch.
Whichever standpoint might prove to be correct, individual experience demonstrates uncanny consistency across the board, in the sense that, bar the occasional exception, these unconscious sensations are quasi-random sequences that occur uncontrollably. The ability to recall them depends on both the state one is in upon waking and the tasks that are undertaken immediately afterwards. Whether these ideas remain paramount on Amun Dragoon’s oracular debut is yet to be discovered, a byproduct of the anonymity shrouding this mystifying project. However, the possibility of an Unlimited Dream Company alludes to a corporate entity taking control of and repackaging haphazard dream stimulus, tapping into previously uncharted cranial terrain deep within the human subconscious before brandishing a new generation of product.
Indeed, Unlimited Dream Company could work as a soundtrack to that very procedure: unveiling plasmatic simulations of the most supine nature, sketching replicable memory sequences across ontology-based 4D surface tablets before filling the contents with soft and comforting triple-layer rainbow colors for personal fulfillment. The body of each audio sequence pertains to a delicately quilted model that thaws fluid lava rhythms over playful bass guitar before scattering them among the crackle of old ballroom 78s and summertime roof garden hookah gatherings. Exploits vary throughout the course of this futuristic landscape, and yet neurological epistemologies could be deployed as a framework for characterizing the recordings, which become distinctly embedded as a consequence of repeat listens.
Meanwhile, protracted atmospheric moments create broad and expansive sonic planes, which allow for the more extravagant numbers to fully gesticulate, like rippling anemones feeling their way through a current. Perhaps the most intriguing of these is “planet egg: PULSE,” which stretches across a sleek diffusive solution so inconspicuously that a manual volume adjustment is required to unreservedly inhale the flavorful hidden textures harbored within, while shorter tracks such as “JADE PASSAGEWAY” lodge heedful synth keys that glide peacefully through mild winds and provide a carbonated gradient without necessarily intercepting any tender flow. In dream analysis, these pieces would constitute soft, organic backfiring; they teem with vitality and are essential for probing more complex areas of analysis, but they carry little weight as separate entities: they are reactionary productions of the sequencing at hand.
Neurological housekeeping requires a driver, a mechanism for organizing processes that exist outside of images conceived during sleep. Although these instances might embed peachy manifestations in waking memory, the experience itself is a consequence of manufacturing. “「SEA OF DREAMS FLOATING METROPOLIS」夢の海フローティング大都市” presses a steady beat underneath its agreeable keys, providing an excellent launch pad for such processes. The percussion instigates a welcome feature in digesting the bountiful selection of ambient synth numbers on offer here, and when tracks such as “「HYPERPOWERネット・サーフィン」subspace adventure test call” bob up to the surface, their sparsity becomes that much more apparent, for they shoulder the burden that the dallying ambiance carries in and act as contrast to what lies beyond, those penetrating, emotive pieces that so graciously saturate Unlimited Dream Company.
“「あなたはだれですか？」” frames an essential signpost on avenues to the unconscious in cracking glacial pace apart with the most obscure segue skips and loops. There are hushed whispers, choral phantom lullabies, and cries of joy among stateroom echo that pours its way over the voices that curdle distorted somewhere in neighboring chambers. The track is secretive and uncouth, more hallucination than dream, where stifled hi-hats do battle with short trumpet blasts in the shadowy distance. Set in this otherwise placid, calming context, “「あなたはだれですか？」” is massive, ending as abruptly as it begins in shimmering metallic sprinkles, inducing a deeper, more profound involvement with the album as a whole. While it appears completely outrageous when set against those quieter moments, it upholds a benchmark in liveliness that is only matched by “MEMORY INVOKE 059,” which crosses the line of synthetic recollection into a foggy and delirious acid flashback. The trip is utterly engrossing within the passage of music that surrounds it, making for a sumptuous insight into the creative spectrum of this unknown musician.
The enigmatic nature of Amun Dragoon is easy to get tangled up in, particularly when very little else can be found about the artist other than the contents of a SoundCloud account. In this instance, any remnants of persona are removed, and the output is appropriately situated at the forefront, becoming the only clues as to what an Unlimited Dream Company might produce and why. At the same time, questions concerning audio source material and technique tally secondary, because they too are thrust inside a precarious state of anonymity. The musical borrowings exhibited here have been so elegantly fucked with that they are wholly engulfed by their imposed environment, where pristine contexts are conjured on a miasmic superhighway straight to the subconscious.
[Editor’s Note: There was initial confusion about the tracklist, but it has been resolved now. Download the album here.]