Review: Ian Wilde – Dream Hunter

Lion’s Pride Music (March 29^th 2024)

Reviewer: Jason Hopper

Singer Ian Wilde may not be a name that is familiar to many but his full time band Wild Freedom has been making the rounds, playing numerous festivals and gaining exposure. I reviewed their last album a few years back (review here) and was interested to see what his solo endeavour would sound like. Those who are expecting something similar to Wild Freedom will be surprised to find his choice of genres here is quite different. Ian has created an interesting mix of AOR, Synthwave, and Hard Rock. The results are remarkable.

The album opens with a combination of Synthwave and hard rock with ‘Are You Ready Now’, a high energy, up-tempo rocker. It’s a fantastic way to start the album. You get a nice mix of a rock guitar sound with keyboards you would commonly hear as part of the Nu-Wave movement.

You get something quite different with the AOR influenced second track ‘Secretly in Love’. A mid-tempo track with an angelic undertone, Ian’s voice works surprisingly well here as he infuses passion and longing that makes it all feel heartfelt. Based on his full-time band, I did not think he was capable of this type of emoting.

The album tracks all continue in this fashion, finding new and interesting ways in pulling and combining from these genres. My favorite song is the rousing track ‘Dance’. It opens with keys that you would hear from a band like The Cars. Ian then infuses some AOR melodic tones that makes the song sound like The Cars trying to imitate the style of a band like Survivor. It’s synth pop rock done right.

Other great tracks include ‘Roaring Angels’, which has the feel and the lyrics of the Kenny Loggins’ track ‘Danger Zone’. Anyone remember the artist Dallas? The track ‘Tender Love’ sounds like a song that would been a part of that debut album. It has a killer keyboard/guitar opening with both instruments playing different melodies that complement each other well.  Once again, Ian sells the hell out of the chorus, which drips with emotion and desire. One last track worth mentioning is the urgent ‘My Heart is Yours’, with its dominating key melody that accents at all the right moments. With the guitar taking a backseat to the keys on this one, the guitar comes to the forefront with the solo and totally shreds. My vote for the top solo on the album.

Being that it has a synthwave influence, it should be noted that the drums are all programmed.  While that may be expected given the genre, the sound of the drums is the album’s biggest detriment. They don’t hit as hard as they should and lessens the impact of the songs overall. It is not so noticeable with the more AOR style tracks, but the harder edged ones suffer a bit from its echoey sound.

Recent releases by Sam Millar and Magic Dance capture the same type of sound that is found on this release. If you dug those bands, then this will be right up your alley. A very impressive release and hope to hear more from him in this capacity in the future.

Tracklist:

1. Are You Ready Now
2. Secretly in Love
3. My Heart is Yours
4. Roaring Angels
5. Dance
6. At First Sight
7. Prove Me Wrong
8. Close Your Eyes
9. Tender Love
10. Born to Shine