Kick Bong – A Waking Dream

English / Polish version

Kick Bong - A Waking Dream
    COSMICLEAF RECORDS
    Kick Bong
    A Waking Dream
    2014

      1. The Beginning
      2. Smooth
      3. The Happy Faces
      4. Electric City
      5. After the Rain
      6. A Waking Dream
      7. I’m Still Sleeping
      8. Signal from Space
      9. You Are the Stars
      10. Melancholia
      11. The Midnight Hour
      12. At the End

______________________________

Some time has passed since the moment when my review of an album A CUP OF TEA? was posted on our website to which I highly recommended a hot cup of aromatic masala chai, so I think it is a really good time to review the another album of Franck Jousselin aka Kick Bong. I admit that when I found out about his latest material and just threw a look at the cover of A WAKING DREAM, I felt it would be good… Before I proceed to the review itself, I just want to mention briefly the current discography of the Kick Bong project – so far the artist has to his credit: one album A CUP OF TEA? (2005) released by Ultra Vista Records and five released by Cosmicleaf Records, i.e. FLOWER POWER (2008), KIND OF IMAGINATION (2010), REMIXED (2011), THE SECRET GARDEN (2013) and the today-reviewed A WAKING DREAM (2014). In addition to the list above, have joined: an EP called EVERYDAY WITH HOPE and compilation 2001-2010, which saw the daylight in the year 2012.

What strikes me from the very outset in the album A WAKING DREAM, released on the 10th of March 2014, it is its onirism, the aura that accompanies dreams, a sense of transience. The sounds by which Franck has created the individual tracks are composed as a whole, which absorbs us completely, pulls in its rhythm, intrigues. A praise deserves the mastering made by Cydelix, who certainly helped the French artist in the grinding the music of psychedelic downtempo genre, although it is a term that does not exhaust the possibilities and does not clarify in 100% the style of Kick Bong. I have listened to tracks included in the album from the year 2014 probably a dozen times and if I had to express visually what I was able to hear, I would say that A WAKING DREAM is the album that not only because of its title refers to the realm of sleep, but genuinely it resembles it. It is one long dream, but so diverse that one does not want to wake up from it – it is rather a psychedelic journey behind closed eyelids, in which we find the entire spectrum of colours, emotions, experiences, some moments of ecstasy, but also of lightweight anxiety. I cannot imagine that for the album having such a meaningful title Kick Bong could choose a different cover than the one that is a photograph taken by Oxana Jad. I strongly urge you to visit her website http://www.oxanajad.com/, because there you will find more images resembling the one from the cover of A WAKING LIFE – their incredible aura, an atmosphere like from a fairy tale, the fog compound a feeling that the presented images come from dream or a vision. As for the music itself, as for me it keeps a very high and equal level, and it is not easy to choose the tracks that deserve a special attention. Subjectively, I can only write that my favourite one is the track which is the third in order, THE HAPPY FACES – probably mostly because, as the title indicates itself, it inspires me positively, I like especially a passage about 1st minute and 50th second, the increasing tension. The track AFTER THE RAIN has also been imprinted in my memory – when I listen to it, I feel just like at the moment when the rain stops to fall and the amazing smell of steaming ground, combined with the crisp air and moisture fills my nostrils. It is no exaggeration to write that this track is just as fresh and purifies the atmosphere as the rain. Then the track YOU ARE THE STARS has a very emotional charge in itself and it simply moves me – it is amazing, especially in the passage of 2nd minute and 23rd second, I have chills again!

I could still have a lot to write about this album, but I think there is no point in it – believe me, A WAKING DREAM is really the unusual album and I guess a bunch of unhappy, dissatisfied people will be sparse. Do not hesitate, do not leave it for later, because such good stuff cannot wait! Starting from THE BEGINNING with a large dose of drums in the background, Kick Bong invites you to his dream – you just need to take advantage of this opportunity!
______________________________

8 / 10
Kasia