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Photo:  Daniel Delgado

Chicago singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dreamer Isioma has gifted us the elixir of brave authenticity and humble wonder with their debut album Goodnight Dreamer, and it's just the potion we needed.

They embody defiance against conventionality, from gender identity to the fluidity of their musical craft. This project is funky, hypnotic, experimental, nothing you've ever heard before, and a stew of everything delicious.

What's most enticing about Goodnight Dreamer is that there's nothing stand-alone about it: it's a psychedelic, introspective trip with checkpoints, rest stops, and aha's, consistently bringing you back to the question: who am I standing in and is it honest?

From the raw, unapologetically black disco anthem "Huh?" to the raunchy, bottled angst "I'm So Done With You," no genre nor theme is left uncharted. There isn't a single soul that won't see themselves or where they're at emotionally mirrored back to them in this project.

Not only is this the album our refuge from an industry that spews out carbon copies of the most TikTok-able formulas possible, but Dreamer Isioma is the emblem us curious, queer misfits who hadn't felt permission to be heard needed. They're not trying to shrink themselves into a safe or rigid mold - they're creating a platform so expansive and formless that everyone can climb on.

The single "Sunset Drive" is the latest to have a visual, and the flowery tune is one you can’t help but groove along to. A feel good track about coolin' with homies, it's a nice exhale sandwiched in between the rest of the album's philosophical exploration. Their vulnerability surrounding heartbreak, racial activism, spirituality, and every nuance in between is coated in soulful melodies that serve as a spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down.  

In a world of Willow Smith's, Steve Lacy's, and Dreamer Isioma's, there's a reinvigorated hope for spiritual truth and dismantling antiquated thought to take lead. And if you've built comfort in the answers being told at you rather than explored within, Goodnight Dreamer is both not made for you and also the exact multidimensional awakening you'll need.

Listen to  Goodnight Dreamer below: