KIRKWOOD, JIM - Lord of the Dreaming

LP available on black (/150) or orange vinyl (/250). Comes with 18"x24" poster; CD and Cassette both limited to 300 copies each. All include unlimited streaming of Lord of the Dreaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

"Out of Season and Hosianna Mantra are proud to announce the launch of the first-ever reissue campaign of the works of cult fantasy synth figure Jim Kirkwood, whose original compositions predated by several years the legendary dark ambient progenitors of what would later be rebranded as “dungeon synth”. Kirkwood's musical style was unique from his contemporaries, falling less in-line musically with the medieval, subterranean dread of his peers and more with artists like Mort Garson (Plantasia, Atraxia's The Unexplained, etc.). Kirkwood incorporated a far more diverse palette of influences such as the Berlin School (Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, etc.) of electronic music, John Carpenter's synth-driven soundtrack compositions, and, perhaps most importantly, a spiritual foundation akin to the New Age cassette culture of the 1980's, albeit much darker.

Kirkwood's immense body of work functioned as an aural adaptation, thematically centered around the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), Michael Moorcock (Eternal Champion), Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Celtic Mythology, and the Norse Poetic Edda. With singular vision and unmatched dedication, Kirkwood released two dozen full-length cassettes from 1990-1996 to virtually no audience but himself and his closest confidants. As such, this original run of recorded material languished in total obscurity before being rediscovered by underground fans in the last decade, resulting in the sudden, long-overdue recognition of the genius of Jim Kirkwood.

Following the completion of the Middle Earth and Eternal Champion trilogies, Kirkwood pushed forward into 1992 at a furious pace, turning next to material inspired by the seminal dark fantasy series Sandman. The comic’s themes of dreamscapes, myth, and the occult aligned perfectly with Kirkwood’s creative drive at the time, resulting in Castle of Sand (1992, oos268/DEI-008), Lord of the Dreaming (1992, oos269/DEI-009), and Through a Dark Glass (1993, oos267/DEI-007). These cassettes also marked the first appearance of vibrant color in Kirkwood’s beautifully primitive cover art. Despite the popularity of their source material, these recordings remain among the most elusive in Kirkwood’s catalog: decades later, Lord of the Dreaming was misidentified and merged with material from Castle of Sand, while Through a Dark Glass has remained publicly unavailable—until now."