AMG EXPERT REVIEW: That Frolic should end up on Projekt is no surprise, given that label's propensity for ethereal, melancholic music and haunting female (as well as male) vocalists. To Dream, the trio's second full effort and its Projekt debut, puts its best foot forward from the start -- "The Tides of March" may have a punning title, but the combination of echoed yet powerful drums, waves, and rain samples and O'Brien's keening vocals set a striking, evocative mood. Chinn's expertise and art with keyboards and arrangements define the sound and atmosphere of the album and songs at the core, with O'Brien's singing and Beard's occasional vocals as well as guitar adding to the exquisite, slow unwinding of To Dream in restrained ways. Chinn's ear for what to include is striking -- not content to simply include synth washes and leave it at that, crisp, stuttering rhythms straight out of Warp Records' avant-techno sound appear on "Breathing in My Soul." Elsewhere, a slightly tribal touch initially surfaces on "Stay," while a chiming keyboard loop provides the lead melody for the title track. O'Brien's lyrics are generally audible without demanding direct attention; she's swathed in deep layers of echo and at points watery reverb that sometimes nearly drown her, but often coincide with the music's elegance in attractive fashion. Beard in contrast has a slightly clearer, stronger approach, almost jarring in context when it first appears on "Forever Forlorn," but still holding to the overall pace of To Dream, sounding not unlike Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance at points. If a comparison could be made, a possibility could be Slowdive's underrated exploration of ambient approach Pygmalion, with less emphasis on rock band sonics and more of sound qua sound. While no one song on To Dream leaps out from the rest, as a whole the album makes for a fine listen for those inclined to such material. - Ned Raggett

Originally signed to the late Velvet Empire, Frolic caught the ear of Projekt Records, and was added to their mail-order catalog. With the sad demise of VE, Projekt's interest has resulted in the trio's latest release. To Dream… has a much more subtle, ambient touch. Rhythms are still present, as in "Breathing in My Soul" and "So True", but atmospheric, lush, luxuriant and dense are the key words here. "The Tides of March", which opens the disc is prime example with rain, thunder and wind supporting Kelly O'Brien's soft, almost whispering vocals. This is music for a rainy spring day or a quiet evening by candlelight. This is very introspective stuff. Not something for casual listening, but rather for reading books or a romantic evening with your spouse. Candles would be manditory in either situation. If you enjoyed Permafrost, or have a taste for female-fronted ambient music, To Dream… is well worth your attention. Keep an eye on this project! - Don Hill

The cover picture is of a moss-covered rock just under the water's surface and the opening two tracks--"The Tides of March" and "Wept I" -- speak of drifting sorrow as one stands at the riverbank. We've arrived too late and you can almost hear the water rushing over Ophelia's head as she sinks beneath the surface. Very much at home with the ethereal darkwave sound of the Projekt label, Frolic takes a classic line from Shakespeare's Hamlet and twists it gently, and the result is an album that dreams of wakefulness.

Crafted of drones and atmospheres over which are layered Kelly O'Brien's siren voice, To Dream, Perchance to Sleep is a drifting journey across the indistinct line between day and night-waking and sleeping. Equal parts Loveliescrushing (though without the tumultuous saturation that so packed bloweyelashwish), Dead Can Dance, and Celtic and Irish traditional vocal arrangements, Frolic doesn't actually frolic so much as slip into your subconscious and pull you towards lucid dreaming states. "Breathing in My Soul" briefly takes you into the dark vacuum as if you had just hopped on Steve Roach's back as he catapulted into space. You kick off and fall back with other meteors, burning and sparking in the atmosphere and, as you pass through the layers of fleecy clouds, you start to hear the voices of angels. You see what I mean about lucid dream states?

Marred only in a few spots (in very much the same way that Dead Can Dance records were horribly skewed by the sudden presence of Brendan Perry's voice, if you know what I mean), Frolic's To Dream, Perchance to Sleep is a beautifully blissful release that is equally restful and invigorating. Too often our dreams are fraught with all the tired and oppressive materials that we've subsumed during the week. If you find yourself wrestling with the pillow at night, drop this disc in your CD player. Guaranteed to flatten out those nocturnal mental spikes, Frolic will remind you how to dream and, consequently, how to it can be to sleep like an innocent baby once again. -Mark Teppo

The new release by Frolic is steeped in melancholic moods and slowly moving shrouds of beauty-tinged gloom. Kelly O'Brien's dream-like vocals waft through Matthew Chinn's sombre textures and sounds, and the two integrate into a seamless otherworldly panorama of dreams and fantasy. The album's title, an intentional inversion of a line from Hamlet, is highly appropriate, as Frolic entice the listener into an engaging dream-world of ghostly images, haunting sounds and comforting escape. "The Tides Of March" opens with the lull of a summer storm, replete in rain and slow thunder-like percussion through which O'Brien's gentle voice sways and glides. A short interlude leads into the slightly more up-tempo "Breathing In My Soul," which utilises a lighter-touch drum machine against the gauzy backdrop of sound. A wider dynamic of composition makes So True an admirable piece of music, with it's lightly militaristic drums morphing into tribal rhythms and synthesized strings and light dustings and O'Brien's voice interlacing with Chinn's elaborately light ambient electronics. A darker resonance fills the title track with hollow echoing and tunneled wind-effects, while the duet vocals of guitarist Jon Beard and O'Brien provide the impression of an expansive vista of imagery. Songs like "Heal" and "The Promises" incorporate a sweeter film-like quality present in much new-age music. "The Return" also is touched by this through the soft synths and classical guitar. Still, Frolic maintain a respectable sound and use these occasional elements skillfully which prevents any serious detraction from the overall power of To Dream. Frolic are the sort of band that could become much-loved by fans of Black Tape For A Blue Girl, Delerium, The Cocteau Twins or David Lynch and Jocelyn Montgomery's adaptations of Hildegard Von Bingen's visionary songs on the album Lux Vivens. To Dream, Perchance To Sleep is indeed a dreamy affair, rife with spectral intent and blissful detachment, and an admirable addition to the ambient genre.

You can count on Projekt to bring you some of the best ethereal/gothic ambient bands out there, and Frolic is no exception. With their combination of gorgeous female vocals, warm synths, and guitar textures, Frolic reminds me a lot of Love Spirals Downwards, but with a colder, harsher, more experimental side to their music. The sometimes deeply claustrophobic, enveloping nature of the synths also feels a bit like early Jeff Greinke, and there's one track -- "So True" -- whose rhythmic beats and spare, crystalline keyboards bear more than a passing resemblance to The Sisters of Mercy's "Flood" from Floodland.

My favorite tracks tended to be the ones that foregrounded Kelly O'Brien's lovely vocals against a backdrop of Matthew Chinn's quietly atmospheric synth (Jon Beard sings on a couple tracks, but I think he might be better off sticking with his guitar). The opening "Tides of March" is a good example, with its rain and ocean sounds, deep throbbing drumbeats, water-glass synth, and sweet, echoing, siren singing; listening to it immediately transports you to another world, refracted through thick glass, very darkly. "As Time Goes By" is another nicely soothing track, with bright synth drones and heavenly voice setting your mind to floating far away. "Stay," on the other hand, is altogether more disturbing, but just as enjoyable, with its spooky guitar, low bass beats, and haunted, taunting synth, ending with O'Brien's heavily distorted voice being torn to shreds, just like the heart of the narrator in the lyrics. The album's lengthy title tracks also falls on the noisier end of the ethereal spectrum, building a thick cloud of enchanting yet disturbing unreality with its synth washes, fuzzed-out guitars, and distant female vocals, too beautiful to be real, like the voice of an angel on the edge of dream; the only thing that mars it is the rather uninteresting male lead vocals. - Dave Aftandilian

ENCHANTING, ICY ETHEREAL | 4 out of 5 | Projekt is known for cultivating some of the best darkwave and ethereal acts over the years, and Frolic are one of their best signings yet. This trio (with Kelly O'Brien handling vocals, Matthew Chinn programming, and Jon Beard on guitar and addiional vox) creates some incredibly subtle songs, as distant pads intermingle with gossamer vocals, dreamtime samples, and delicate guitar stirrings. Despite occasional punctuations of percussion and hints of rhythm, Frolic stays closer to the ambient side of things most of the time. Kelly's whispy voice is pure beauty and she knows just how and when to use it, never overwhelming the musical textures, nor disappearing behind them. The songs move in slow motion, yet never become labored or self-indulgent. An album of chilly, yet strangely sensual night music, To Dream, Perchance to Sleep makes the perfect bedside companion. -Daniel Hinds

Frolic is receiving deserved attention with To Dream, Perchance to Sleep, their ethereal second release, on Projekt. The opening track, "The Tides of March", seeps in with it's electronic drone, fluttery female voice, and distant sparse and savage drum hits. "Wept I" follows, a short instrumental theme to return later on the CD. "Breathing in My Soul" is probably my favorite track on the album with it's fluid progression. It's imaginative texture reluctantly reminds me of Enigma, but without too much production or a catchy beat.

"Forever Forlorn", with it's deep male vocals and effected electronics, sounds as if it could have found a home on black tape's a chaos of desire. "Forged" reminds me of Ardor-era Love Spirals Downwards without the guitar, and Frolic adds additional textures. "Stay" is a bit more upbeat than the rest of the album, yet is still laid back through most of the song until a more prominent beat comes in with distant effected guitar and heavily effected vocals, though a little too effected for too long. "The Returned" is a short instrumental segway into "Distant", another instrumental, which grabs deserved attention with it's more adventurous use of sound and sample, though the drum loop tends to wander without meaning.

It almost feels as though the album refreshes itself with the uplifting "So True" with quiet yet cheerful drums and layers of electronics and distant female voice, and "Wept II" returning the ethereal theme from the beginning of the album. This, all before the lengthy title track with both male and female voice, with mounting tension finally released into the heavenly track "The Promise". The closing song "Heal", is also very strong with sparse piano over electronics and ethereal female voice.

Frolic is fluid and quite gentle. They fit nicely into the ethereal category, perhaps a bit too nicely, bringing names like Enigma, Enya, black tape for a blue girl, and Love Spirals Downwards to mind immediately. The music here is certainly digestible, and maybe even a good step into the underground for Enigma and Enya fans. There's good and soothing music here with which to listen, or perchance to sleep. - Michael Otley

Remember when your pen-pal sent you a cassette of one of black tape for a blue girl's early albums, and you combed your hair for twenty minutes because that's what you happened to be doing when you put the cassette in the stereo, and you just didn't feel like doing anything but combing your hair and listening to the music? It was raining, wasn't it? Spring can be a bitch if you tackle it on your own. But with the right soundtrack...

To Dream, Perchance To Sleep is definitely wistful, but it isn't the grandiose sigh of release of a spiritual autumn, nor the peace of winter, nor even the dissolute diffidence of summer. Think more along the lines of This Mortal Coil, or a flower opening to a brushfire and having just enough awareness to know for a moment, to be absolutely sure it's a flower; before it crumples, steaming, into indistinguishable vegetable mush. That second, that lifetime jumbled perforce into a furious, flame-blinded I Am, echoes through these sweetly bewildered tunes, and scoops your heart up into a tender whisper that reminds you that you don't ever have to really understand.

This CD has the deep shifting layers of a lot of the Projekt standbys - say, Love Spirals Downwards - but a cleaner, slightly more purposeful edge. Take the tribal/jazz incantations of Basque, silversided with the eerie grace of Spindle Shanks, and beam them through a glass darkly with a dash of trance rhythm, and you have the perfect cocktail for a mud thirsty frog-soggy midnight musing on the collapsing porch of the old Pont du Lac place. Hell, nobody's going to come throw you out. Do not go gentle into that harsh sun - rave, crave the fancy that you're not alone! This one gets a five-goose bumps rating... - Columbine

Sitting by the window, I watch the snow come down. It's supposed to be March, not the middle of winter. However this album makes perfect listening for when you are wrapped up warm inside. Kelly O'Brien provides haunting vocals, over a dreamy, mostly electronic accompaniment. In places the music sounds so fragile that you fear it will break if you attempt to touch it. On "The Tides of March" an occasional drum sounds like a cannon shot in the far distance. This is music short on hummable melodies, but long on atmospheres. There's a sadness here, full of undisguised longing. It's music made for quiet times of solitude.

The lyrics are enigmatic allowing the listener to create his or her own meaning. There are shades of Lisa Gerrard, of Dead Can Dance, especially on "So True". The male vocals of Jon Beard on "Forever Forlorn" and the title track add a welcome variety. "Stay" is more upbeat than some, but is marred by the studio effects overwhelming Kelly's vocals. The mood is disturbed for me, but the beautiful chiming guitars of "The Return" make up for the loss.

Listening to this CD means you have to slow down. It is physically impossible to hurry while listening to Frolic. I can almost feel the tension leaving my body. And after an hour or so, the music finishes and the skies have cleared. Things don't seems so bad after all. - Stuart Moses