Antonymes - The Licence to Interpret Dreams

Antonymes is the solo project of North Wales based musician and artist Ian Hazeldine. In the two years since debut album Beauty Becomes The Enemy Of The Future was released on Cathedral Transmissions, Antonymes has swiftly built a strong following with emotive music which is melancholic but never morose.

Besides music, Hazeldine is well known for his excellent visual design work which has graced many labels, such as Hibernate Records and Fluid Audio. With a keen desire to explore alternatives to the usual artist release methods, Antonymes has already twice performed the unexpected; For Beauty Becomes The Enemy Of The Future, a very limited special edition photograph book was commissioned. In addition, the recent EP Before The Light Falls was released in a physical edition of just one, available for purchase exclusively on eBay, a truly unique piece of art for its owner to cherish.

It is with this reputation preceding him that Hazeldine returns with The Licence To Interpret Dreams, his first work for Australian label Hidden Shoal Recordings and despite the weight of expectation, the album does not disappoint. Opening with the aptly named A Fragile Acceptance, the track embraces the beauty which silence can bring to music, carefully punctuating this silence with delicate piano. Each note has a deep and rich timbre, the tracks taking their place amongst the sonic territory of artists such as Max Richter, Goldmund and Field Rotation, successfully pairing minimalist piano refrains with just the right amount of ambience to move the soul.

Though The Licence To Interpret Dreams is defined by piano, Hazeldine seldom confines himself to that instrument alone. Womb Of The Great Mother begins with a thick synthesiser tone for the first period of the track, creating a soundscape which echos Celer or perhaps Stars Of The Lid before introducing the beautifully sparse piano once again. Doubt shows the biggest break with tradition and features binaural spoken word poetry over Hazeldine's music. The monologue is refreshing in its eccentricity and the album closes with On Arrival At The Strange Museum, echoing the abstract themes of Morton Feldman with its otherworldly tones.

At a time when mainstream music has lost much of its value with the average consumer, a work such as The Licence To Interpret Dreams reminds us yet again that while music created solely for commercial means may suffer, while there are artists such as Antonymes performing and recording, music as an art-form is alive and kicking.

Released April 21st on Hidden Shoal Recordings and available to preorder here

Review by Adam Williams for Futuresequence