Wow ! Again an AWESOME discovery !! :-) What a joy ! I had never heard of Swedish Daniel Palmqvist before this day and I couldn’t be more glad to have been sent the excellent “A Landscape Made From Dreams” !!!
Released not even one month ago, this instrumental blend of styles will please your ears for sure! Some albums are little wonders after being recorded in years, some others are as much wonderful after being recorded in less than 6 months ! This is exactly what happened with guitar virtuoso Palmqvist’s debut album ! It took only 2 ½ months to write and was recorded in JUST 2 weeks ! :-O It’s really funny because the result is exactly the same as if it would have been done in two whole years. “A Landscape Made From Dreams” is a product of extremely high quality, from the first note till the last one. I swear !
And which was not my surprise and great pleasure to see again amazing drummer Daniel Flores and bassist Johann Niemann (both from “Mind’s Eye” and friends of Palmqvist), participating on the project ! I think that it couldn’t do otherwise than mean “quality work” !!! Three very talented keyboardists (Johannes Stöle, Kaspar Dahlqvist and Andreas Lindhal) also brought their diversified contribution to the album…With those 7 awesome musicians together, without to forget to mention bassist Andreas Olsson (also from “Narnia” and “Rob Rock”), you certainly CAN’T be disappointed ! I was completely amazed by the result, especially when you think that it was recorded in so few time. Stunning CD !
I don’t want to describe you every single song here, each of them is like a surprise box, (so I let you discover you alone how good it is) but something I can say is that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to choose a favourite track !! Each one is excellent and different from each other. Each track is so original ! This is also a very hopeful and positive album…the sort of CD that will make you feel in such a good mood. The kind of album you can listen in rainy, sad, dark days, or if you feel down: it will put you back on your feet again in less than two tracks. It’s very moody, happy, rock, entertaining. Sometimes it’s heavy, sometimes it’s smooth, it’s tremendously rhythmic. It’s coloured, alive, relax, cool, sexy, languorous, bluesy, various. Honestly, you’ll find of everything…and all this in a perfect cohesion of melodies and notes. You don’t need any lyrics here…you just have to create them as you wish. ;-) There is no better “way to communicate” than a pack of instruments…
Daniel Palmqvist mentioned his hopes regarding the tracks: “[…] I hope these songs will capture the listeners imagination and take them on a musical journey, as well as delivering a heavy dosage of cool guitar stuff…”. Seems like he succeeded his goal PERFECTLY !! You’ll effectively be able to use all these fantastic pieces to create and build your own and magical travel…in your minds. Besides, I suggest to listen to it the eyes closed.
Strongest aspect: ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING !!! Instruments, mood, organization, sound quality…everything !!!
It deserves 10/10 ! And I recommend it to anyone ! great piece of work !! I’m so grateful to have discovered Palmqvist’s music and I will certainly check for more in the future…Definitely in my Top 5 CD’s of 2006 !! To buy absolutely !!
Reviewed by Vikie Martel on July 12th, 2006
