Blue Lobelia’s Rachel Bruch McAllister continues teasing out singles ahead of the release of her new album, Beneath all Bloom. The album has been two years in the works and is shaping up as a minimalist/abstract collection with a spiritual bent, and folk backbone. “Above The Canopy” is the second single from the album, and it explores entirely otherworldly concepts and the intangible links we may share with them.
https://soundcloud.com/bluelobelia/above-the-canopy-june-10/s-omjBt
As is the case of many great works of art and literature, “Above The Canopy” was a gift of Bruch McAllister’s subconscious mind that came to manifest itself as a song.
“Sometimes in your dreams you get to see people who have passed out of the waking world and on to whatever comes next. Sometimes you get to experience perspectives and abilities that aren’t possible in waking Life. This was one of those dreams,” explains Bruch McAllister.
“In the dream that inspired this song I was in and above the tree canopy, hence the name. I had a kind of immortality and superhuman capability… the laws of physics did not apply. Yet, there was an element of humanity and vulnerability in that the emotional content was tied to a family member who passed away quite young. She herself was a sort of superhuman. In the dream I was anticipating her arrival in the canopy.”
Bruch McAllister says that she compares her dreamworld experiences to what we perceive through the kaleidoscope lens of technology and psychedelics and questions whether that is limited by our more worldly and tangible experiences.
“I sometimes wonder what dreaming was like before film, photography, CGI. I wonder if the things I experience and see truly are imagined or if they have filtered into my lived experiences on the screen somehow. Was dreaming different when your experiences were more limited to that which was directly in front of you, accessible to your immediate vicinity, ability, etc.?”
The song, however, is not necessarily a literal translation of the dream. As Bruch McAllister explains it, it is the interpretation of the dream, and a matter of capturing its essence that the song comes from.
“I believe that our dreams have wisdom, a Tarot or horoscope-esque opportunity for self-reflection,” says Bruch McAllister.