Joey Fehrenbach / Dream Traveler

Joey Fehrenbach - Mellowdrama - 2006 - DT Music, USA

A brilliant album of the ambient/downtempo electronica genre. If you like the works of Brian Eno, then you should like this album. Check out the Dream Music label for some of the best electronic music today, and buy some of the albums.

TRACKS

1 Being Around You (7:35)
2 Runaway Child (4:58)
3 Behold (5:19)
4 Particles (6:08)
5 Beltenebros (3:43)
6 Rain (4:13)
7 I Remember (5:42)
8 The House Of Lost Hope (5:33)
9 The Beginning (5:34)

REVIEWS

Joey Fehrenbach’s Mellowdrama is a very welcome set of ambient/downtempo tracks. At its best, the CD mixes the beautiful otherworldliness of Brian Eno’s ambient classics with mellow beats, creating a future chill-out classic. © www.synthtopia.com/content/2006/05/
Mellowdrama is one of the best received and highly rated Melodic-Electronica/Downbeat albums of the year:

"For fans of forward-thinking electronica, Mellowdrama should not be missed" © Brent Kallmer, Amazon.com

"One of the best downtempo releases of 2006" © Syntopia Magazine

"Gorgeously sculpted, uber-melodic downtempo" © BPM Magazine

"Joey Fehrenbach – Mellowdrama' Verdict? Buy this CD now!" © Buzzoutroom.com

Each track delivers a multitude of unique electronic sounds that exercise the mind." © Slacklineradio.com

Mellowdrama is an enlivening mix of longing, loneliness, and minimalism. One listen, and you may be reminded of Ulrich Schnauss’ A Strangely Isolated Place or Boards of Canada’s The Campfire Headphase, but Mellowdrama is much more than that.

Mellowdrama’s opening track, Being Around You, starts with a minimalist groove that slowly builds without ever meandering aimlessly. The minimal beat is eventually taken over by a catchy synth melody reminiscent of The Cure, which finally gives way to vocoded vocals.

Introducing more atmospheric and organic sounds, a high point of Mellowdrama is the album’s second track, Runaway Child. With its radio friendly beats, male vox, and a haunting, infectious melodic synth hook, the song boasts a reverb so cavernous, it could have been recorded from the farthest corner of the universe.

The atmospheric and organic sounds introduced in Runaway Child are further explored in track three, Behold, via expressive Moog synths and Theramin sounds, which are successfully used to capture emotion. Its melody is as thoughtful, as it is expressive, haunting, and romantic.

Track four, Particles is a more chill, jazzy, and loungy track than can be found elsewhere on the album. As the track builds, it crosses over into more familiar drum and bass territory. The amalgamation of these sounds work together to create one of the album’s stand out tracks.

Continuing with the more chill, loungy vibe is track five, Beltenebros (the title of which comes from Don Quixote and suggests “Dark Beauty”), Fehrenbach originally recorded this as a dance track for the now defunct label, Hooj Choons. Realizing that he had a solid track on his hands, he remixed this with a more downtempo beat to sit neatly on Mellowdrama.

Following Beltenebros is Rain, the only full vocal track on the album, which tells the story of a messy breakup via jaded, haunting vocals wrapped in a dark orchestra of sound.

Conversely, track seven, I Remember, is more optimistic and hopeful. It starts out minimally with synced water drips and a groovy beat, but builds into a bigger sum of its parts, culminating with a detuned synth lead, and bold acoustic guitar hook taking over the mix.

The album’s most upbeat track, The House Of Lost Hope, features acoustic guitar, multiple drum loops, and steel drums that sound like they’re being played from another dimension. Bordering on sexy and carefree, the song’s incredible, melodic hook will stick in your mind for days.

Mellowdrama closes with Fehrenbach’s first attempt at writing an orchestral song The Beginning, is written in "movements.” Beginning with a sublime beat and getting darker and moodier in the middle, the final movement returns once again to the sublime, completed with blissful, radiant beats.

Mellowdrama is a solid debut and takes the listener on an auditory journey through the haunting, dark, lonely, and twisted without dwelling too far in the melancholy. The underlying euphoric and inspiring beats throughout ensure that Mellowdrama is aural pleasure from beginning to end, while being affable and unexpected at the same time. © Dea Lazaro (1212 Media)
Joey Fehrenbach has brought his history to the present with a new release. On Mellowdrama, he creates a fresh, new sound with the insight and influence of a completely opposite style of electronic music. How does one take over 10 years of experience in a different genre to create a downtempo debut? It is obvious that his talent is not limited by the constraints of a single style.
In 1998, Joey Fehrenbach’s Dream Traveler project hit the world stage on Paul Oakenfold’s Tranceport. The popularity of Time on this release put DT on the map of house. Over the years, Joey has kept busy producing his own progressive music as well as collaborating with others including DJ Sasha. Like an actor, musicians can become typecast leading some to believe their achievements are only made in a narrow field. It can be difficult to escape the boundaries of the definitions that are applied. On his downtempo debut, Joey Fehrenbach takes a bold step to do just that.
Apparently, his experience is of immense value on Mellowdrama. Throughout the nearly 50 minutes, Joey creates a well-balanced soundscape of musical layers. Being Around You is a nice prologue for what lies ahead on this album. It introduces the listener to the complexity of the full production. Each track delivers a multitude of unique electronic sounds that exercise the mind. When the listener arrives at I Remember, one cannot help but wonder what memories were the cause for such a nice twist on dub. In the end, Mellowdrama proves to be an excellent starting point for Joey Fehrenbach’s new venture. © www.slacklineradio.com/
Joey Fehrenbach has released numerous dance singles and remixes over the past 9 years under the name Dream Traveler. Joey decided to explore other elements of music and songwriting and the result is Joey's beautifully melodic and haunting debut downtempo album, entitled Mellowdrama. © 2005-2007 PodShow, Inc

BIO

Joey Fehrenbach is a Trance producer from Arizona and co-owner of the Dream Music label. Dream Traveler shot to fame when Paul Oakenfold found heavy favor with his track "Time", and opened his popular Tranceport mix-CD with it. © 2007 Discogs www.discogs.com/artist/Dream+Traveler