Japanese composer RHYME sets her single and sprawling poem of urban imagery and personal mythology “discontinuance of the dreamer 夢の中止” to broken/distorted autoharp and guitar strumming with processed vocals intruding periodically like an ancestral ghost. The track is less a song than an extended metaphor for a star crossed love that can’t be prevented by family or cultural tradition. But one’s internalization of these forces can exert their influence and the tortured male vocals and rapid, chaotic strumming near the end of the song feels like these negative energies both trying to hold you back and burning off from your psyche at the same time. The poem and the song has a dream logic to it that would be a mistake to interpret at pure face value. RHYME also recently released a long form video for the song cycle/poem “初夢 HATSUYUME” of which the aforementioned song is the final third, opening with a more hip-hop/industrial beat and noise soundscape. The title references the Japanese superstition that the dream you have after the first rising sun predicts your luck for the rest of the year. In that video and song the artists interprets the meaning of the dream in the form of musical poetry and imagery but both songs employ a type of free verse poetry as a vehicle to explore psychological spaces in a creative way through fusion with music to help heighten and express the emotional insights she garners from the process, thereby setting an example for those who take the time to listen in their own creative journeys through inner space. Listen to “discontinuance of the dreamer 夢の中止” separate from the larger work on Spotify, take in the fullness of “初夢 HATSUYUME” on YouTube and connect with RHYME at the links provided.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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