Dylan Henner - Star Dream FM

A Closer Listen

Star Dream FM is a curiosity, an aural record of a radio station that doesn’t exist, miraculously brought to life.  Dylan Henner imagines finding such a station, broadcasting memories of his seventeen-year-old self in all its glory and angst; the evocative track titles are like diary entries, the music an unusual blend of robotic vocal, choir, music and filtered frequencies. Listeners may be returned to their own childhoods, especially older listeners who once turned the radio dial late at night just to see what might be on, and found delights on the far edges of the dial.  To be seventeen is to be between childhood and adulthood, between home and away, between what one has always been and what one will become; one can imagine this as a particularly welcoming time for fantasy, reverie and dream.  The occasional DJ clip brings things back to earth, while the associations with church music lift the spirit to the skies.

As noted in our Fall Music Preview, the track titles are exquisite.  We’re keeping a running list of our favorite track titles this year, which now include (in order of release):

Max Cooper, “I Am in a Church in Gravesend Listening to Old Vinyl and Drinking Coffee” GoGo Penguin, “Background Hiss Reminds Me of Rain” Okkyung Lee, “lying here half awake, i hear kids outside laughing with their hearts and i think this must be the end then…” Yara Asmar, “everyone I love is sleeping and I love them so much” Dylan Henner, “I Borrowed my Dad’s Car But We Had Nowhere To Go So We Drove Around Listening to Music All Night”

The latter track launches this album.  A quick jingle is followed by the sense of being between stations, in this case a metaphor for the time of life.  Are angels flying above, watching over the uncertain adolescent?  In the third track, the association is even more palpable, the call sign of 102.7 greeted by soaring choir and electronic harp.  Henner seems not only to be reclaiming memories, but sprinklng them with glitter until they glow.

At the midpoint of the album, the dial continues to turn, catching non-English frequencies and fragments of song.  Henner superimposes his own song, which enters in waves.  One thinks of the ways in which one reassesses and redefines one’s own experiences, given the perspective of time. The marimba becomes the album’s defining instrument, its timbre soothing and smooth.  If one were to discover one’s adolescence playing on a radio station, would one recognize it?  Henner’s blessing is that he does, and embraces it all the more.  (Richard Allen)