Jeff Bridges
Sleeping Tapes (self-released)
Sleeping Tapes is an album by actor Jeff Bridges, collaborating with True Detective and Nashville composer Keefus Ciancia to create an ambient, rambling album filled with all sorts of bizarre sounds, monologues and atmosphere that a press release suggested was designed to "help you get a good night's rest."
The album begins with Bridges giving an introduction/explanation. Over round, warm synthesizers, he fumbles with what we assume to be a microphone and tape recorder.
"I hope they inspire you to do some cool sleep-ins, cool dreamin', some cool wakin' up".
The album progresses, and we are taken on a journey through Bridges' idea of relaxing activities, including humming, perhaps a more Big Lebowski-esque take on "Om". He welcomes his wife to the "sleep tapes", asking her to join him in the appropriately titled “Hummmmmm”.
"I just woke up" she says reluctantly, but he eventually convinces her. The power of The Dude.
On "IKEA", he meditates on the idea of a "space cemetery", suggesting his body will be attached to a satellite and launched into eternal orbit, flashing when it passes over memorable locations such as IKEA.
Perhaps the most wonderfully outré of all would be "Temescal Canyon", a sensory experience where Bridges describes a walk through a gentle canyon, running into another gentle hiker, and all sorts of majestic imagery.
The album concludes with Bridges repeating the line, “We’re all in this together” like a mantra.
It’s meta bed-time stories for adults; spoken word over ambient analog synths. Bridges' sheer joy of simply being alive and in the moment is enough to turn any skeptic into a believer.
Rating: ★★★★★
