It has been several years since Barry Cleveland's critically acclaimed Mythos was released on the ill-fated Audion label. Voluntary Dreaming develops and updates the themes from his earlier work, producing a rich montage of layered sounds centered around his guitars and keyboards. The title track, the album's opener, is an uptempo rhythmic improvisation with subtle synthesizer and electric guitar and light but lively percussion work by Michael Pluznik. Ritual Sticks flows along to the watery sound of large gourd kalimbas (thumb pianos) with a catchy lyrical electric guitar melody, pedal-steel guitar washes by Robert Powell, and dulcimer coloring by Michael Masley, played on the Hungarian gypsy cymbalon. The next three pieces are short moody introspections, mainly featuring synthesizer, with subtle dramatic tension often reminiscent of Brian Eno's work. The dancing rhythms return on Hawk Dreaming with Cleveland cutting loose with some fiery but tasteful lead guitar over chiming synthesizer, floating pedal-steel guitar, and Michael Pluznik's sampled percussion funk. The final piece, the 13-minute The Angel and the Abyss, drifts off into deep space with ethereal synth chords, impressionistic guitar, gently soaring pedal steel, and some unearthly sounds coaxed out of the cymbalon by bowing as well as plucking and striking the strings. Gradually the exotic and expressive voice of Anastasia Johnson fades into the foreground, her soulful soprano wordlessly exploring the twin aspects of the human soul implied in the song title. Voluntary Dreaming is an intricate multilayered work full of subtleties and inventiveness, an imaginative blend of unusual instrumentation, delicate textures, bright rhythms and plenty of inspiration. ~ Backroads Music/Heartbeats, Rovi

1		Voluntary Dreaming
2		Ritual Sticks
3		Visual Purple
4		The Inward Spiral
5		Cleopatra's Needle
6		Hawk Dreaming
7		The Angel & The Abyss

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