Not long after returning to his North Carolina roots from a number of years drumming with bands out west, native Wilmington singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Gregory Phillips resurfaces with his debut E.P. using the moniker Kaleidoscope Dream.
Upon his return to his hometown, Phillips went right to work diligently recording the five terrific tracks that ended up on the E.P., Arrive. We are always excited to hear from a talented artist that we’ve not heard of before. And in this case, that was especially true.
“The E.P. is a group of songs that are guitar riff-based, but also have heavy keyboard-oriented elements that create a musical atmosphere around them,” he says. “This combination reveals influences of rock, indie, pop and a touch psychedelic flavor.”
Kaleidoscope Dream’s style is clearly alternative rock as evidenced on the opening track, “Headlines,” which may remind listeners of The Cure or even Joy Division. The album flows from one track through the next with a mix of styles ranging from indie rock, psych, pop, and some blues.
On “Headlines,” Phillips says he knew he had a good bass riff to start with which makes sense since the track is driven by a gut-punching bass line piped through a Fender jazz bass and Opto compressor with a gritty aspect.
“The rest of it came together pretty quickly by stacking a few guitar parts on top of each other using two different PRS guitars, a CE24, and a McCarty Hollowbody II,” Phillips says.
“Unfortunately,” he adds, “shortly after I had the instrumentation done we had another instance of gun violence break out in El Paso and I couldn’t stay silent on the issue.”
For the standout track, “Charlotte,” Phillips says, that he was ‘noodling around’ and came upon the song’s riveting main guitar riff.
“The hardest part about writing this song was that it was for someone very close to me who lost both of her fathers. I love to bounce my ideas of my friends but this one I had to write in private. When it was finally done and I played it for her we both cried our eyes out.”
Phillips captured the feeling that he set out to with a meaningful song that also has a sweet lick. Together with tight melodic chord progressions, the song “Where” creates an ambiance that is easy to fall into.
“Treadwell” was the first song Phillips says he wrote front to back without collaborating with anyone else.
Part of the reason for that, he adds, is the lack of a big pool of musicians in his area that a musician otherwise finds in major cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
“It’s really hard in my area to find good musicians that you can count on. I had wasted a year trying to make something work with another group.”
He says that he had gone on vacation in the mountains and came upon a Korg Minilogue synth for sale in a pawn shop. “I was eager to implement it into a song and this happened to be the one it was recorded with.”
“I wanted this song to be kinda my own personal ‘come back anthem’ after being kicked in the shins, and I think it served its purpose.”
The Korg element of the track is almost irresistible and really conveys the authentic sound he was shooting for.
With the bluesy, “Broken Tree,” Phillips’s use of keys and synths did not end with “Treadwell.” In fact, for this track, he added a Korg Kross for the main piano parts along with the Minilogue synth. Phillips also employed a PRS CD24 for the guitar parts.
“I bought the CE24 when I made the decision to break away from drums as my main instrument and return to my original roots as a guitar player. I really like the CE24 for parts that need a bit more edge and bite.”
This effect, it seems, was influenced by the lyrical content of the song which Phillips says has to do with watching a friend “suffer from an atrocious family life.” The track also uses chord progressions to help create the feeling he wanted.
“These songs are very special to me…the inspiration for many of them come from people very close to me that had some very unfortunate times in their lives. I wrote to them hoping they could find resolution and reasons to look at their lives in a new way.”
I think we all have had obstacles in our lives and often we let these things get in the way from enjoying life the way we should. Even though the songs were written about a certain person or person experiences, the stories are unfortunately universal. I hope that many others can take something from them in a positive way.”
