About the NOUS Dreamland Recording Studio Sessions and Approach:

While in the calm, wintry, forest solitude of Dreamland Recording Studio (nestled in Upstate NY) and in line with the intention of NOUS, the artists began each day applying meditative techniques to bring them further away from the habitual mind states of everyday life in order to create the space for natural intuition to unfold. For seven days of three to four studio sessions per day, the approach cycled between indeterminate and free improvisation, guided conceptual visualizations derived from esoteric graphics, meditations from different philosophical or esoteric traditions, mantric, chant, poetry and language experiments, and concepts derived solely from general musical or movement related guidelines. Many of the specifically musical ideas were guided by certain tonal areas, interval restrictions, modular rhythmic, melodic fragments, and simplified lead sheets.

Though some of the artists knew each other, the group had never played together and came from very different background, so the style of music was difficult to predict. However, from the beginning the influences for the project were drawn from elements of Post-Rock, Minimalism, Indeterminacy, World, Kraut-Rock, Psychedelic/Experimental Rock, Neo-Shamanism, Noise, Ambient, Drone, Folk Chant, and Free Jazz. Within the widely varied careers of the various musicians, there is at least one connection to each of these genres.