Imaginary Realities by Phillip Wilkerson & Chris Russell
Release date: January 24, 2025Label: Spotted Peccary Music
Between my morning and afternoon walks to clear my head, I always have my trusty iPod touch with me just to get away from all the stress at home. And it’s always a sigh of relief on what I need to do when I get home and feel comfortable after my daily routine. During my walk, I felt I was imagining myself, walking alone at night, with this eerie feeling in bright drones and glimmering flourishes that are brought to me.
And this music has been a big escape for me. From the outer worlds of the Spotted Peccary label, Philip Wilkerson and Chris Russell have written an album that dwells into other worlds to another time, another place, and the chance to be free from all of the chaos that we endured five years ago when the world came to a screeching halt as the pandemic began.
Imaginary Realities is a dream-like scenario the duo have unleashed. You feel as if you’re inside this parallel universe with orientated magnets, creating this cold, dark, yet eerie atmosphere. Like many ambient voyages, Chris and Philip bring in the shimmering view of the northern lights approaching our home planet to unveil something extraordinary right in front of our very eyes.
A piece like ‘Dissipation’ draws upon the late, great Manuel Gottsching, but with a sonic surrounding, tipping its hat to Ash Ra Tempel’s ‘Traummaschine’ from the band’s 1971 sole self-titled debut. There’s this feeling where you walk into a room where something had gone horribly wrong in this environment where everything becomes this creeping maze, waiting for you to encounter the demons that has haunted you for a very long time.
‘Manifesting Presence’ is a dreamy, yet mellotron-like scenario. It begins with a spacey orientated melody being drifted alone in our galaxy, far, far away. It’s wrapped in its meditated guidance to be caught in this eerie quietness that you could almost feel a pin drop, hitting the water inside the cave, not knowing on what to expect.
The 14-minute piece ‘Abandoning Desire’ is where it puts you in this abstracted world where bands and artists like Tangerine Dream and Vangelis, take listeners in this post-apocalyptic, droning nightmare. With its classic orientation, it is a surreal painting coming to life in different forms, setting upon the droning techniques, then heading into the outside world revealing a chance to be reborn and free from all of the chaos you’ve endured for the past five years to smell the fresh, open air that’s waiting for you.
Like all dreamland wonders, the duo have given Imaginary Realities a strong sense of deep sleep music. Whether it’ll make you feel comfortable or to put your mind by heading out for your walks, this is the album that’ll get you through all the stress you had to endure.
