Sweet Dreams Nadine

“Sweet dreams” is a comforting refrain spoken before sleep. It’s imbued with wistful tenderness, an offering of oneself to be carried off into the land of Nod. In dreams, we dissolve. Our anxieties, desires, conception of self: all become refracted, rearranged & obscured. So “sweet dreams” is also a plea, that upon waking we might still be able to recognize each other as once before. By changing their name, Sweet Dreams Nadine seek to dissolve & obscure, and in turn reveal, the group’s true essence. 2018’s oh my was recorded across a few sessions in piecemeal fashion. The project has always been defined by collaboration (that of Nadia Hulett, Carlos Hernandez and Julian Fader, the latter two known for their work in Ava Luna), but with Hulett having written most of the oh my songs beforehand, (& with a mononym like Nadine, so close to Nadia), she couldn’t help feeling like her ego was wrapped up in the group’s identity. It’s the first record they wrote together from the ground up. Hulett’s voice is still the narrating presence, but Hernandez and Fader’s contributions are clearly up front & integral to the world. Improvisatory in nature, the sessions exuded reverence for the recording process. The ten songs across this record play like dreams retold & misremembered, with details swirling like watercolors. All in all, the music is generous. Concepts of love, self, longing are given up as an offering, delivered with the sort of reverence akin to “sweet dreams” to a loved one.