Joel St. Julien’s Dream shouldn’t get lost in the flurry of Bandcamp Day — what supposedly, but who knows, may be the final Bandcamp Day. It’s a track of chaotic gentleness, the fragmented and lushly frantic “You, my love” placed lovingly between two easier-to-love ambient tracks, the foggy title piece and the beading “Endless,” its sparkling tones undergirded by a subdued percussive pelting. “Dream” in particular is something to get lost in. It’s a generous dollop of fuzzy cloud cover and twinkling pointillism. But I’m pretty sure it’s “You, my love” I’ll be returning to. I hear what I think is granulated guitar, the pizzicato sounds crushed and wrinkled into textural mayhem, as the piece unfolds into something downright stratospheric.
The EP available at joelstjulien.bandcamp.com. More on Joel St. Julien, who is based in San Francisco, at joelstjulien.com.