Interviews About Albums: Bones:Dreaming - A Day In The Labyrinth Of A Psychedelic Mind (2022)

In this new interview, we sat down with the German Psychedelic project Bones:Dreaming to ask some questions about their new album "A Day In The Labyrinth Of A Psychedelic Mind". 

1. What can you say about this new release?

The ‘Bones:Dreaming’ project is new terrain for me. It kind of started when I experimented with lots of guitar pedals and a Theremin for some of the Screaming Bones tracks (like ‘Journey through your inner Cosmos’, for example.) For the background sounds, I hooked up the Theremin on a single note and chased that sound through several guitar pedals before I added the lead guitar to it later. The whole background sound was ‘played’ by me switching the pedals on and off and turning the knobs rhythmically. As I was looking into more ways to generate and modulate the sound, I fell into the rabbit hole of semi-modular and modular sound synthesis and got myself some gear to experiment with. I don’t really have any musical reference for what I am doing on this release, I just follow my instincts and create the sounds I like. The first shot at this genre is what you hear in ‘A Day in the Labyrinth of a Psychedelic Mind’. The tracks on that album always get me when I listen to them, the soundscapes have such an eerie beauty to them that catapults me into my headspace. When I listen to the tracks and close my eyes, I have a cascade of images floating through my mind, the music is a soundtrack to these images and I often reach a very meditative state during the experience. Every session I do for the Bones:Dreaming project is unique, I hardly document what I am doing, the sounds represent my state of mind and my state of being at that moment in time. Some tracks sound like a soundtrack to my inner demons, others, like ‘Kaleidoscope’ have an angelic, heavenly vibe. Both projects, Screaming Bones and Bones:Dreaming live very well next to each other, they complement each other and I have the chance to revert to a different direction when my creative output gets stuck with one of the projects. Working with electronics only is a nice change to guitar and bass and vice versa. I am working on two new albums at the moment, one for each project, hopefully, we will see them by end of the year, the beginning of next year. There is bound to be some crossover between the two styles, that much I can tell.

2. What is the meaning of the record name?

When I record music, I have to be in a special state of mind. Normally, I am a very logical and factual person. I don’t want to give away too much, but when I am making music I like to break up the connections in my brain and put the creative parts into the driver’s seat. I don’t want to think when creating sounds and rhythms, it is almost a symbiosis between me and the machines. I sometimes get the impression that I can feel and see the sounds that come out of the speakers and headphones, they enter my system and bring out what’s in me then. Working like that, I don’t know where the time goes. A day can go by in minutes, the night can give way to dawn and I am still captured in an otherworldly state of sound and feel. That is the reason why the album is called ‘A Day in the Labyrinth of a Psychedelic Mind’. It is me replaying what I have done during the day, tracing the sounds through my psychedelic mind.

3. Which one is the composer of the CD/EP?

I do all the stuff myself, whether it is the Screaming Bones or the Bones:Dreaming project. I can’t say that the music can be called ‘composing’ for the Bones:Dreaming project. Each track is a journey for me. Each track starts with the search for a sound that fits my mood on that day. Once I have found the sound, I start to modulate it, create new connections between the different components and watch how the sound evolves over time. When I am ready, I hit the ‘Record’ button and embark on the journey… which tends to carry me away, that’s why the tracks are all quite long.

4. If you have to pick one song, which one would you pick?

I think I would pick the opening track ‘Kaleidoscope’. I love the vibe of it and the angelic voices appearing after a few minutes. The track has a simple repetitive structure and carries the listener on a cloud into the unknown. However, I do like all of the sessions on the album. Each track is like a big painting or a movie to me. Every time I listen to it, I discover new things in it that I haven’t paid attention to before.

5. Is there a special message in this EP/CD?If there is what it is?

The Bones:Dreaming releases are nothing to listen to in a hurry. You need to reserve time in the day for it. Time to be with yourself or maybe with your loved ones. The message is to find back to the moment you’re in right now and enjoy what you are doing. The tracks don’t work if you have tomorrow’s schedule on your mind, they don’t work if thoughts of your day’s work still circle in your head. The tracks demand you to listen to them without any distraction, they want you to be with them in the here and now. Just for that time. What has been and what will be is not important at the moment. Listen. Now. Here.

6. Are there some lyrics that you´d love to share?

All the tracks I do are purely instrumental, If you ever had the chance to hear me attempting to sing, you would understand, haha. I love it when some effects create a resemblance of a machine talking and taking the parts of a lead singer. However, I have no idea what they are saying.

7. Which inspirations have been important for this album? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank especially?

My biggest thanks go to my wife and my dog, the latter is just lying to my feet as I am typing this. During the last couple of years, I went through a very difficult time in my life. I still do, but things are finally starting to get better now. I had to stop doing my regular job, as a massive burnout catapulted me out of the life I had led so far. Since then, I had to fight nearly every day to keep that depression under control. Sometimes it went better, on other days it did not go so well. Music has been and still is my lifeline. Music creates a space for me in which I don’t have to think. Music is the key to my emotions, to which I normally have little access. It doesn’t always work, but when it does, something wonderful comes out. And I am grateful to Life itself.

8. Something to add?

I am publishing the music because I love every little bit of each track, including the little fuck-ups that are still in there, haha. The feedback I get from the listeners is overwhelming at times, I thank everybody for listening to my music and I hope the music will fly far and high… it means the world to me.