With “Dancing in a Waking Dream,” Thomas Alexander Kolbe opens a new chapter in his artistic work. For the first time, sung tracks performed by Kolbe himself become an integral part of his repertoire, adding a more immediate and personal dimension to his music.
At the same time, this release brings together several strands that have been present in his work, now more clearly intertwined: ambient textures, electronic forms such as vocal trance, and elements of Japanese traditional music and instrumentation. These musical approaches are complemented by lyrical themes that draw on Japanese cultural and spiritual motifs, creating a coherent artistic direction that extends beyond a single genre.
This shift also marks a change in authorship. For this release, Kolbe has chosen to articulate his thoughts in his own words, offering a more direct insight into the ideas and experiences behind the piece.
(Marilis Esmé)
“Dancing in a Waking Dream” did not begin as a clear idea. It began as a feeling I kept returning to, sometimes without noticing it at first. It happens in quiet situations – walking, sitting, or simply listening without a specific intention. At some point, perception shifts. Not abruptly, not in a way that would demand attention, but subtly enough that the usual separation between “inside” and “outside” starts to lose its sharpness.
I know this state well. It is not sleep, and it is not ordinary wakefulness either. It feels like standing slightly behind one’s own thoughts while still being fully present. Sounds seem closer. Space feels deeper. Time stretches just enough to allow things to unfold without pressure.
The shoreline in the opening lines is not just a physical place. For me, it is a threshold. A point where things are not clearly separated anymore. The ocean, the forest, the presence of another person – all of it begins to feel connected in a way that is not constructed, but simply there.
Walking there with another person adds another layer that is difficult to explain without simplifying it too much. There is a kind of closeness that does not rely on conversation or definition. You are aware of the other person, but not in a way that creates tension. It is more like moving within the same field. The presence is shared, not negotiated.
When I wrote “Your hand in mine, a quiet symmetry”, it came from exactly that. Not as a metaphor, but as a direct observation. There is a balance in such moments that does not need to be maintained. It simply holds itself.
The forest in the second part of the verse is also not just an image. I have always experienced forests as places where perception changes almost immediately. The acoustics, the density of the space, the way light moves – all of this affects how one listens and how one thinks. It becomes easier to notice smaller details, and at the same time the larger context feels more present.
The idea of Kami entered the text without much deliberation. I did not sit down and decide to include them. It was more that the word describes something I experience constantly. Not as a belief system, but as a mode of perception. The sense that presence is not limited to what is directly visible or measurable. That certain places carry a kind of attention of their own.
In the track, I did not want to define that. I wanted it to remain open. The Kami are not characters. They are not active in the sense of doing something. They are simply there, and in that way they change how the situation is perceived.
The musical structure follows this very closely. The extended intro is important to me. I need that time. Without it, the rest would feel ungrounded. When I work on pieces like this, I often stay in that intro phase for a long time before allowing anything rhythmic to enter. It is a way of aligning with the atmosphere rather than constructing it too quickly.
When the beat finally appears, I do not think of it as an addition. It is more like a continuation of something that was already present in a less defined form. The motion becomes audible, but it was already implied.
Recording the vocals myself changed the process quite a bit. There is a different kind of responsibility when you are the one singing these lines. You cannot distance yourself from them. I found that I had to reduce rather than add. Any excess expression immediately felt out of place. The voice needed to stay within the same space as the pads and textures, not in front of them.
The second verse moves slightly further inward. The temple, the lanterns, the altered sense of time – these are all connected to experiences where external structure becomes less relevant. Time stops being something you measure and becomes something you move within.
There is also a quiet sense of memory running through the track. Not memory in a narrative sense, but as fragments. Impressions that do not fully belong to a specific moment. When I wrote “Every memory feels borrowed now”, it reflected that feeling that some experiences do not feel entirely owned. As if they pass through you rather than being stored by you.
The bridge is probably the most exposed part of the track. It introduces questions that I genuinely do not have answers to. I left them as they are because answering them would reduce them. The line “Are we shadows in another life” is not meant to suggest anything specific. It is simply a question that arises in that state.
“Stay… stay… Don’t wake yet…” is something I have thought many times in moments like this. There is always a point where you notice that the state is fading. And there is a brief attempt to remain in it, even though you know it cannot be held.
The final section expands again, but not by adding more elements. It is more a widening of perspective. The personal dissolves slightly into something less defined. The idea that connection, memory, and presence are not isolated events, but part of a larger continuity that we only occasionally become aware of.
When the track fades out, I wanted it to feel like stepping out of that state rather than ending it. The ocean sound at the end is not a closure. It is more like a return to something that was there before the track began.
This piece is very close to how I experience certain moments of perception. It is not an interpretation of them. It is an attempt to remain as close as possible to how they actually feel.
“Dancing in a Waking Dream” will be released on April 24, 2026.
Lyrics
[Extended Instrumental Intro]
mmm…
mmm…
[Verse 1]
I walked the shoreline where the silence breathes
Between the waves and all the things we leave
Your hand in mine, a quiet symmetry
The world dissolves into a dreamlike sea
The forest opens like a hidden door
Soft moss beneath us, nothing feels unsure
Your voice is warm inside the cooling air
Like something sacred always waiting there
I hear the echoes through the ancient wood
Where unseen spirits move the way they should
They do not speak, but still I understand
This place remembers more than we have planned
[Pre-Chorus]
And every step feels like we’ve been here before
A distant life we can’t ignore
In every breath, in every sound
Something lost is being found
[Chorus]
We are dancing in a waking dream
Where the ocean folds into the trees
Kami watching from the quiet light
Guiding us through endless night
Hold me close where the spirits stay
Where love does not just fade away
In this world between the seen
We are more than we have been
[Instrumental Break]
mmm… ahh…
[Verse 2]
We found a temple where the lanterns glow
Where time is something we no longer know
The air is thick with something undefined
A gentle pull that lingers in the mind
Your eyes reflect a deeper kind of blue
Like distant waves I’m always drawn into
And in that gaze I lose the sense of me
Becoming part of something quietly
I think of home, of voices far away
Of nights that drift and slowly rearrange
A quiet longing wrapped in fragile light
That turns to warmth when you are by my side
[Pre-Chorus]
And every dream begins to feel so real
Like something I can finally feel
In every step, in every sound
All the lost is coming round
[Chorus]
We are dancing in a waking dream
Where the ocean folds into the trees
Kami watching from the quiet light
Guiding us through endless night
Hold me close where the spirits stay
Where love does not just fade away
In this world between the seen
We are more than we have been
[Bridge]
Are we shadows in another life
Are we echoes carried through the tide
Every memory feels borrowed now
Still it leads me here somehow
I hear voices in the distant rain
Calling softly through the hidden plane
Not alone, we never were
Every silence starts to stir
Stay… stay…
Don’t wake yet…
[Build-Up]
[Final Chorus]
We are dancing in a waking dream
Where the ocean folds into the trees
Kami watching from the quiet light
Guiding us through endless night
Hold me close where the spirits stay
Where love does not just fade away
In this world between the seen
We are more than we have been
We are drifting through the sacred tide
Where the past and future coincide
Every wave becomes a part of you
Every breath begins again as new
In the forest, in the fading blue
Every path keeps leading back to you
And if this dream should disappear
I will still have found you here
[Outro]
mmm…
mmm…
Credits
Written, composed, produced and performed by Thomas Alexander Kolbe
Vocals by Thomas Alexander Kolbe
