By Kira Grunenberg | Published March 2020
Kat Edmonson’s Dreamers Do doesn’t draw from today’s sociopolitical atmosphere for inspiration. Instead, its embrace of dreams and childhood innocence becomes an oasis of hope, excitement and optimism, tackling a more timeless question posed by the vocalist and bandleader: “Are the messages we receive as children, about following our dreams, sustainable or relevant through adult life?”
Spanning two originals and 18 Great American Songbook and Disney-derived selections, Edmonson delivers an abundance of personality, from her earnest and casual admissions in “Very Good Advice” to the carefree and self-assured swagger on the closing reprisal of “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes.” Bill Frisell makes an appearance, too, his guitar adding a celestial feel during “The Age Of Not Believing” as he plays overtones and harmonic notes against the lyrics’ somber and pragmatic premise.
Despite Edmonson’s gossamer voice unifying the album’s repertoire, the inclusion of so many instruments—harp, strings, glockenspiel, pipa and erhu—and stylistic nuances makes Dreamers Do much more than an album of conceptually related songs. It’s an attempt to show how we perceive dreams, the act of dreaming and the emotions that emerge.
Dreamers Do: A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes; Go To Sleep; In A World Of My Own; Night Walk (Interlude); When You Wish Upon A Star; The Parlor (Interlude); Chim Chim Cher-Ee; This Old House (Interlude); Someone’s In The House; Carlyle (Interlude); Very Good Advice; Too Late To Dream; A Little Night Music? (Interlude); All I Do Is Dream Of You; Be Careful How You Wish; The Second Star To The Right; The Age Of Not Believing; Morning (Interlude); What A Wonderful World; A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (Reprise). (51:26)
Personnel: Kat Edmonson, vocals; Bob Hart, bass; Matt Munisteri, Pete Smith, guitar, vocals; Roy Dunlap, keyboards, vocals; Aaron Thurston, Mathias Künzli, percussion; Jiaju Shen, pipa; Yang Wang, erhu; Rob Schwimmer, keyboards; Brandee Younger, harp; José Luis Oliveira, Tim Ruedeman, flute; Trina Basu, Fung Chern Hwei, Rachel Golub, Justin Smith, Janey Choi, Mazz Swift, Kiku Enomoto, Dana Lyn, Christina Courtin, Ali Bello, violin; Karen Waltuch, Jessica Troy, Miranda Sielaff, viola; Marika Hughes, Clara Kennedy, cello; Bill Frisell, guitar; Evan Arntzen, clarinet; Linus Lux, glockenspiel.
