DRÆMINGS is the musical incarnation of singer and multi-instrumentalist Kimi Recor. Kimi spent her childhood in the idyllic woods outside of Munich before moving away to San Francisco at 17-years-old, teaching herself to play the guitar, keys, bass, and drums in the process and performing in projects around the local scene. Over the course of one weekend after what she refers to as “biggest breakup I’ve gone through,” she wrote and recorded DRÆMINGS’ five-song demo entirely on her own. Sumerian Records stumbled upon the demo’s Soundcloud page and offered her a deal.
This led to her eighties synth and post punk alternative debut recording “The Eternal Lonesome”. Produced by Eric Palmquist (The Bad Suns, Trash Talk, Night Riots) and featuring performances by A Perfect Circle’s Jeff Friedl (drums) and Matt McJunkins (bass), it explores what the songstress describes as a, “period of heartbreak”, continuing Kimi says: “I wrote it about being in love with somebody who’s also a musician. When you love someone who’s a traveling artist, you always know that person is a going to leave. It’s only semi-permanent. The two of you are never going to be in the same place at the same time for long. It’s vagabond love. You let people go, and you’re okay with it. I’ve always been with artists and had to accept they’re going to love their art more than they love me, because I love my art more than anyone.”
“Battle Mountain”, the opening track for the album, is one of the most touching, brilliant and utterly devastating songs I have heard in while. But don’t you dare think that this song is the best song on the album, because this album doesn’t have a best song, they are all flawless masterpieces. Songs like “Area 51” with the lyric “fight the fight, spark the fire, move the people, shape the world”, and “Like A Ghost” or “Teen Dream Death Machine” are triumphs of how a song can reach into your soul and takeover.
The beautiful synth and string arrangements often hide darker elements, and are characteristic of the album’s theme: love. But not the kind of love that you hear from your local lovelorn divas, this is destructive, passionate love, love that defies logic, time and even consequence of reason.
This is a remarkable music from start to finish. Put in your player, turn out the lights, switch off the phones and you will experience the glory of this album and of DRÆMINGS. And don’t you dare skip any tracks because the demons in DRÆMINGS’ closet and in yours will certainly hunt you down and destroy you.
It’s her deliciously oblique karma working alright. And Kimi’s versatile, muscular singing voice has a power and range that reveals every iota of emotion these songs are deeply drenched in.
I think the reason listeners will find this album accessible is simply because it sounds so mature and sophisticated. Eric Palmquist’s production is robust, yet tastefully elegant, giving DRÆMINGS’ songs room to breathe. The atmosphere is rich, vivid and well captured on every track.
Ultimately though, what makes “The Eternal Lonesome” such a masterwork is its raw power and simmering passion, the brooding emotional intensity, the pure heart and guts that pours out nakedly from every note of the record.
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