Hannah Selin – Dream Journal & The Apocalypse

released digitally April 12, 2024

Dream Journal & The Apocalypse is Hannah Selin‘s debut album as a composer. Its six tracks offer a glimpse into Selin’s imagination over the last five years, weaving together instruments, voices, and custom electronics developed in close collaboration with the musicians: Chromic Duo (piano/toy piano/synths), Stephanie Lamprea (soprano), Benjamin Katz (harpsichord), Ford Fourqurean (bass clarinet), and SydeBoob Duo (soprano/alto flute). Dream-worlds mix with the supernatural; ghostly echoes and whimsical vocalizations meet with the warm resonances and characters of acoustic instruments.

The compositions featured on the album transcend the dichotomies between nature and the supernatural, consciousness and the subconscious, humans and technology. Each piece tells a unique story, merging materials from disparate time periods and sources—field recordings, spoken voices, hymns, and poems. The electronics act sometimes as an expansion of the instruments, sometimes as a reflecting pool where time slows down and accumulates, and sometimes as their own independent musical entity.

Composed, engineered & mixed by Hannah Selin
Electronics built by Hannah Selin using Max/MSP and Supercollider

additional musicians:
Chromic Duo: Dorothy Chan & Lucy Yao (Track 1) – piano, synths, voices
Stephanie Lamprea (Tracks 2 & 5) – soprano
Benjamin Katz (Track 3) – harpsichord
Ford Fourqurean (Track 4) – bass clarinet
SydeBoob Duo: Anna Elder & Sarah Steranka (Track 6) – soprano, alto flute