Famed guitarist and composer Pat Metheny has announced the upcoming release of Dream Box, a collection of nine “found tracks” of solo guitar music.
Metheny describes the album as “a unique recording for me; it is essentially a compilation of solo tracks recorded across a few years that I only discovered while listening on tour.”
Listen to the first pre-release single “From the Mountains”:
“I was surprised to find this program emerging as a coherent whole. I found that I had unintentionally gotten to a destination I had not planned for,” Metheny says. “These nine tracks were my favourites and added up to something unique for me. I never played anything more than once. These are really moments in time, and in fact, I have almost no memory of having recorded most of them. They just kind of showed up.”
The title Dream Box has multiple meanings. “Box” is jazz slang for a hollow-body guitar, and Dream Box showcases many different guitar sounds. But the word “dream” is the key here: “Dreams in their broadest sense make up the vibe with this set,” Metheny explains. “Music exists for me in an elusive state, often at its best when discovered apart from any particular intention.”
Dream Box follows 2021’s studio album Road to the Sun and live recording Side-Eye NYC, making it the third release on Metheny’s own record label Modern Records, an imprint of BMG.
Here’s the track listing:
- The Waves Are Not the Ocean
- From the Mountains
- Ole & Gard
- Trust Your Angels
- Never Was Love
- I Fall in Love Too Easily
- P.C. of Belgium
- Morning of the Carnival
- Clouds Can’t Change the Sky
Pat Metheny’s Dream Box is out June 16, 2023, via BMG Modern Recordings.