Berlin-based heavy music collective THE OCEAN have unveiled “Milk of My Dreams,” an entirely electronic collaboration with TANGERINE DREAM bandleader Thorsten Quaeschning. The track appears on the band’s upcoming 12th studio album, Solaris, arriving September 25 via Pelagic Records.
Dark, hypnotic and unexpectedly danceable, “Milk of My Dreams” represents the second half of the album’s 20-minute closing piece. Inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 science-fiction film Solaris, the song pushes THE OCEAN into unfamiliar electronic territory while closing the record’s 70-minute journey.
Unlike much of Solaris, whose instrumental foundations date back to the pandemic, “Milk of My Dreams” was composed last year as the band began recording vocals. New vocalist Enrico Tiberi developed much of the piece through variations on themes introduced in the preceding track, “Ultima Esperanza.”
Robin Staps subsequently rearranged the material, with Quaeschning making significant contributions to its synthesizers and sound design.
“Working with Thorsten has been an incredibly inspiring experience and with all of us being huge Tangerine Dream fans, a great honour of course,” THE OCEAN comment. “His knowledge of electronic music, synthesizers and sound design is extraordinary, and at the same time he’s an immensely talented and curious musician.”
The collaboration began after THE OCEAN met Quaeschning while recording drums at Berlin’s historic Hansa Studios. The musicians later spent a week together at Quaeschning’s Berlin-Rudow studio, working on “Milk of My Dreams” as well as the broader electronic elements heard throughout Solaris.
Quaeschning describes working with THE OCEAN’s shifting time signatures as a departure from his usual methods. Rather than relying primarily on hardware step sequencers, he performed many sequences by hand, allowing him to react naturally to rhythmic changes while introducing subtle variations in dynamics and timing.
“I’m very happy to be part of this album,” Quaeschning says, “and I’m looking forward to seeing where this new collaboration may lead.”
Taking its name and conceptual foundation from Tarkovsky’s Solaris, THE OCEAN’s new album combines dystopian science fiction with ideas inspired by the journals and records of historical explorers. Across the record, the band examines the psychological drive behind exploration, the relationship between discovery and domination, technological advancement and humanity’s impact on its environment.
The result imagines a dystopian future in which Earth has become uninhabitable as a consequence of the same human intelligence responsible for technological progress.
Solaris tracklist:
- 52°30’11” N, 13°26’12“ E
- Departure Song
- Light Pollution
- Simulacra
- Belligerence
- Ultima Esperanza
- Milk Of My Dreams
- 51°28’30” S, 73°6’11” W
Solaris arrives September 25 via Pelagic Records. Pre-order