perpetual dream theory: reviews
Perpetual Dream Theory
A Softer Landing 2005
A Softer Landing is Perpetual Dream Theory's second full-length album and follow up to 2002's Now or Never. As with PDT's previous work, you won't find overdone formulas or clichés here; the band is known for its multilayered approach to crafting original songs. Relying on intricate melodies and harmonies, unconventional rhythms, and elegant arrangements, every PDT song evokes a mood, builds tension, and leads listeners to a satisfying conclusion.
Lyrically, this collection of songs is an evolution from Now or Never. The verses are more opaque and challenging, but are easily understood on an intuitive level. The result is a collection of songs that succeed as poems in their own right. Structurally, all the songs on this album are solid enough to pass the a cappella test: while every song benefits from the sensitive handling of all the players, each would succeed beautifully carried only by Eryn Holbrook's voice.
The album's opening song, When Worlds Collide [ mp3 ], explores the universal yearning for love, meaning, and spiritual connection, as does the breathtaking Supernova. In these songs, PDT strikes the perfect balance between quiet and subtle, and a sound that is full and soaring. Drive North and Saskatchewan describe relationships that — like the sympathetic Canadian landscape they are set against — have become flat and disconnected, and long for resolution. Snow in September [ mp3 ] describes a similar detachment that is emphasized by unusual end stops, carried on a cascading melody, and is resolved by a powerful surrender in the chorus.
Slowly pieced together over three years, A Softer Landing has been well worth the wait. These beautiful songs are pure and memorable, and will leave new and old fans alike waiting for Perpetual Dream Theory's next evolution.
—Nicole Ottenbreit
Perpetual Dream Theory
Now Or Never
Now or Never is an absolutely breathtakingly beautiful album. From the opening moments of “Breathe In” to the dying sighs of “Breathe Out”, Perpetual Dream Theory guides you on a journey through a lush and complex landscape of emotions and music. This is not a CD you listen to so much as an experience you become involved in.
Making reference to other bands can be high praise or the kiss of death, depending on whether you’ve called the band in question the next Wilco or the next Hootie and the Blowfish. Even when you think you’re giving a compliment, you may unknowingly be pissing the band off (helpful hint: do not refer to Young and Sexy as “Canada’s Belle and Sebastian”).
Perpetual Dream Theory transcend simple one-to-one comparisons. To dispense with the obligatory namedropping, Now or Never brought to mind Radiohead’s Kid A, Badly Drawn Boy, Natalie Merchant, R.E.M.’s Reveal, and Mychael Danna’s soundtrack for The Sweet Hereafter. Eryn Holbrook’s vocals and Gordon Breckenridge’s guitar sound very similar to the team of Sarah McLachlan and Bill Dillon on McLachlan’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, the album Now or Never reminded me of most.
Perpetual Dream Theory are clearly more than the sum of their influences, though. Their talent is huge. Holbrook’s voice radiates the whole spectrum of emotions. The music feels like a completed jigsaw puzzle; every piece fits exactly into place. You can tell instantly from the texture and density of each song that every single sound has been carefully considered and chosen. Whether it’s the woodwind flourish near the end of “Imaginary Places”, the creepy electronic intro to “Pandora’s Box”, or the precise piano of the title track, it’s evident that the songs of Now or Never have been finely crafted. A lot of sweat and a lot of thought have gone in to the creation of this amazing CD.
Perpetual Dream Theory excel at creating an atmosphere that thoroughly absorbs the listener. This is why every time I put on Now or Never, I have to listen to it all the way through. It draws me in completely and makes me forget about all the other CDs in my collection.
Now or Never is a wondrous album. It doesn’t get much better than this.
—Chris LaVigne, Vancouver Indie
Review of Now or Never
Perpetual Dream Theory's first full-length release, Now or Never, has been compared to the dreamy melodic soundscapes of Radiohead. It's true that both bands create music that is richly textured and almost subliminal at times, but I would make one distinction: while Radiohead's atmospheric music sometimes makes me feel like I'm floating alone in outer space, the music of Perpetual Dream Theory takes its listener on a journey, with kindred souls, through inner space. These songs take you down unfamiliar paths through the range of human emotions, and—as with all great songs—you don't need to know exactly who or what each song is about to find your own emotional common ground. You can trust PDT to take you somewhere unusual yet somehow familiar, to offer you something you haven't been offered before, and then gently bring you back.
Alternately earthy and ethereal, Eryn Holbrook's soaring vocals (which remind me ever so slightly of Kristy Thirsk's, of the defunct Rose Chronicles) carry these well-crafted songs from the album's opening, "Breathe In" through to its gentle closing, "Breathe Out". Layered with sweet harmonies, unusual sounds and textures, Now or Never is an album you can listen to again and again and always discover something new. There is a delicious eerie-ness to some of Holbrook's piano pieces I love, particularly in the opening to the song "Now or Never", which makes me feel as though I've opened a music box in an empty, and possibly haunted, house.
Lyrically, both Gordon Breckenridge and Eryn Holbrook write songs that convey a deep understanding of the subtleties in relationships, and the powerful statements that remain unsaid. This is true in "Setting Sun", which Breckenridge leads through to the first chorus with gentle sincerity ("I don't know how to talk to you, I don't know what to say/So I sink to the bottom and slowly fade away") and in "Imaginary Places", where Holbrook expresses a whorl of conflicting emotions ("Paint my room but don't get in my bed/Some things are better left unsettled" and my favourite lyric, "I'm hoping this counts as good karma in the next world/Cause in the next world it's not so far").
—Nicole Ottenbreit, Good Girl Magazine
Special sounds of Saskatchewan
'Saskatchewan' is a melodic little beauty, right up there with anything the likes of Coldplay have thrown up these past couple of years. With a fluid, gentle hand, the band Perpetual Dream Theory sketch an intimate portrait of life and its little pleasures, as played out in the remotest of parts.
Perpetual Dream Theory are a foursome from Vancouver, and you can just picture them as they went about recording this tune... in a warm, cozy log cabin with the band members all huddled around each other, totally clicking as a unit. There's an effortless ease to PDT's sound, as though they don't have to try too hard to weave some soulful magic into their work.
The song draws it's melodicism mainly from the beautiful piano playing, which is why the Coldplay comparison is an obvious one. But lyrically and maybe structurally too, Saskatchewan is reminiscent of the Counting Crows, and could easily have appeared on that outfit's 'August & Everything After' album. But while the above bands sometimes suffer from drabness thanks to the over earnestness of their respective male vocalists, PDT's singer Eryn Holbrook brings a casually light, yet distinct feeling to the sound.
Holbrook also plays piano, and does a wonderful job of it too. Gordon Breckenridge (guitars, keyboards, woodwinds, vocals), Todd Holbrook (bass) and Shawn Killaly (acoustic/electric percussion) all chip in nicely on the track, making sure that the song's essentially blissed-out vibe is never drowned out.
Lyrically, Saskatchewan is something else. The words here are softly poetic, and paint a vivid picture of what are actually not-so-bright surroundings...
"Driving the roads of Saskatchewan/ Where every paved mile is you/ Every unknown turn is you... / Now she's empty and racing out into the country/ Into silent fields/ Of forever wasting... / Nights are full of stars impeding/ Harvest, rush, the clouds are feeling unorthodox tonight/ And she is fading out of this clear morning/ And she is feeling unorthodox/ Tonight."
This is the kind of song you could listen to seven or eight times continuously without even realizing it. What you will realize, is that you've stumbled upon something different.
—Siddharth Dasgupta, godsofmusic.com
Up and Coming Band for the 21st Century
Perpetual Dream Theory is a popular Vancouver Band that performs original alternative rock. The band has proven that hard work and dedication pays off, and has established themselves as a band with a definite future by achieving #1 status in the alternative category at soundclick.com August 12, 2000. The songs of Perpetual Dream Theory are well written, poetic, and thoughtful and address real issues facing real people. They are songs you can identify with and feel as though part of them were written for you. When combined with mezmerizing vocals, and rich, musical textures, Perpetual Dream Theory is a band that truely rises above the rest.