Tomas Fujiwara - Dream Up (2025)

Drummer Tomas Fujiwara and his frequent collaborators, Mary Halvorson, Ingrid Laubrock, and Tomeka Reid among them, are remarkably prolific, releasing numerous albums each year in various configurations. The bar is consistently high, both in the studio and on stage, making it a challenge for any single project to distinguish itself. Dream Up, however, manages to do just that.

Here, Fujiwara leads a percussion quartet with himself on drums, Tim Keiper (donso ngoni, kamale ngoni, calabash, temple blocks, timbale, djembe, castanets, balafon, found objects, and other percussion), Kaoru Watanabe (o-jimedaiko, uchiwadaiko, shimedaiko, and shinobue), and Patricia Brennan (vibraphone). Given the raw diversity of this instrumentation, the album’s sound and feel go far beyond just being about drumming.

Indeed, several tracks exhibit a marked tunefulness. Recollection of a Dance includes melodic structures led by Brennan with overlapping rhythms from her three bandmates. On the other hand, Mobilize features assertive and driving polyrhythms to accompany the tuned percussion. Columns of Leaning Paint is similarly situated with dense and busy snare-centered soloing from Fujiwara and a sense of barely-restrained energy. Komorebi is more measured and introspective, featuring a slower pace and a more open structure, focusing on bells and textural sounds.