Dream Unending to Release Certain Uncertainties Oct. 30
Remember when Donald Rumsfeld talked about the known-knowns and the unknown-knowns and the known-unknowns and the unknown-unknowns? A surprisingly enduring and useful linguistic slab of neocon bullshit, that was. As a title, Dream Unending‘s Certain Uncertainties adds an extra play to the concept for the use of the word ‘certain’ having the potential to mean either decided-upon/definite or to be used as an allusion to something unmentioned. ‘Certain’ proclivities, and such. It’s a clever way to give depth to the idea, and if you listen to the two-piece’s new single “Strained Sincerity” at the bottom of this post, you’ll already know that depth is a big part of what Dream Unending do.
The two-piece were last heard from with 2022’s Song of Salvation, and the ensuing four years would not seem to have made them less atmospheric. In “Strained Sincerity,” a melancholy lead guitar floats above the deathly gurgle, giving a melodic sweetness to what might otherwise be death-doomly mire. To hear the PR wire tell it, they’ve maybe stripped down some of their approach, shorter songs, etc. If that’s the case, then that guitar part in the first single might be telling of their ability to highlight such elements in the mix while still ultimately refining what they do. I’ll look forward to finding out.
Release info follows:
DREAM UNENDING: Epic Dream Doom Duo Presents Certain Uncertainties LP, To Be Released October 30th On 20 Buck Spin; “Strained Sincerity” And Preorders Posted
DREAM UNENDING, the eclectic duo uniting Derrick Vella of Tomb Mold and Justin DeTore of Innumerable Forms, Sumerlands, and Magic Circle, presents their expansive third album, Certain Uncertainties.
With their first two albums, DREAM UNENDING transformed the familiar architecture of death doom into a place of their own making. A language where cavernous heaviness could coexist with progressive rock, ambient music, jazz-informed improvisation and a disarming emotional candor. On their new album Certain Uncertainties, that expression remains intact, but its gaze has shifted. Where previous records often seemed to reach upward and outward, this one comes back down to earth: leaner in construction, rougher around the edges and possessed of a distinctly nocturnal atmosphere. Call it adult contemporary doom, perhaps; music of considerable weight that has nevertheless learned how much can be said by leaving certain things unsaid.
Recorded with fewer layers and a deliberately more immediate instrumental approach, Certain Uncertainties gives the individual performances room to breathe. Derrick Vella’s guitars move through blues, jazz and progressive vocabulary with unusual freedom, at times carrying the open-ended character of American roots music into territory rarely encountered within doom. Justin DeTore’s drums are present throughout, lending the album a more physical momentum and helping its compositions arrive at their destinations with greater economy. Yet concision has not diminished DREAM UNENDING’s taste for release: the opening and closing pieces in particular build toward enormous pressure points, while the spaces between allow Vella’s playing to wander, react, and occasionally remain imperfect. Each song operates as its own vignette; part desert reverie, part after-hours noir; with traces of Western landscape, dim rooms and empty roads running throughout the album.
That earthbound quality suits an album concerned, at its core, with instability and reconstruction. Written during a period in which Vella was rebuilding his own sense of confidence in risk-taking, Certain Uncertainties carries doubt within it without surrendering to despair. The bruised balladry of “I Carry Your Burden,” the improvisational openness of the title track, and the album’s uglier eruptions of death doom all belong to the same emotional terrain: beauty and discomfort allowed to occupy the same frame. If DREAM UNENDING’s earlier work imagined another world beyond the limits of heavy music, Certain Uncertainties finds something equally strange in the one beneath our feet. A record of dry air, long shadows, unresolved questions and the stubborn impulse to keep moving through them. Fans of Anathema, Blue Nile, Live, Evoken, Tiamat, Opeth, Trouble, Alice In Chains, and Kings X must hear DREAM UNENDING.
With Justin DeTore on drums and vocals, and Derrick Vella handling guitars and bass, Certain Uncertainties features several special guests, with trumpet from Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum) and additional percussion by Benny Grotto on the title track, keys on “Rubato” by Dave Vella, and vocals on “I Carry Your Burden” by Brendan Radigan (Magic Circle, Pagan Altar).
The drums were recorded by Arthur Rizk at Solomon’s Gate except “Certain Uncertainties,” recorded by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios, and the guitars and bass were recorded by Sean Pearson at Boxcar Sound. The album was mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk with additional editing by Tom Waltz, and the album is completed with cover art by Benjamin Vierling (Dream Unending, Joanna Newsom, Pallbearer) and layout by Chimere Noire.
Certain Uncertainties will be issued on LP, CD, MC, and digitally on October 30th. Preorders for all formats are available at 20 Buck Spin’s webshop HERE: https://www.20buckspin.com/collections/dream-unending and Bandcamp HERE: https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/certain-uncertainties
Certain Uncertainties Track Listing:
1. Blinding Allure
2. Certain Uncertainties
3. Strained Sincerity
4. Rubato
5. I Carry Your Burden
6. Causal
Additional percussion on “Certain Uncertainties” by Benny Grotto
Trumpet on “Certain Uncertainties” by Leila Abdul-Rauf
Keys on “Rubato” by Dave Vella
Vocals on “I Carry Your Burden” by Brendan Radigan
Drums recorded by Arthur Rizk at Solomon’s Gate, Easton, Pennsylvania except “Certain Uncertainties” recorded by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios, Allston Massachusetts.
Guitars and Bass recorded by Sean Pearson at Boxcar Sound, Hamilton Ontario
Mixed and Mastered by Arthur Rizk
Additional Editing by Tom Waltz
Front Cover by Benjamin Vierling
Layout by Chimere Noire
DREAM UNENDING:
Justin DeTore – drums, vocals
Derrick Vella – guitars, bass
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Looking forward to this. They did a cool split with Worm a few years ago.