REVIEWS

Reviewer: Chris Dahlberg (cosmos gaming)
Album: "On the Road to Wisdom"
Rate: 5 out of 5

Music: A Blue Ocean Dream:
Our Take
A Blue Ocean Dream is a one man synth-pop act, something that is starting to rise in popularity these days. The latest album to come out from this project is entitled "On the Road to Wisdom", which hints at the style of earlier Cure and Depeche Mode. This is a seductive album that will definitely draw in listeners who are heavily into synthesized music. If you are not big on synthesized/robotic vocals definitely look elsewhere, but those who love this genre will find this to be worth the time.
The vocals on this release are very interesting, as they are both organic and synthesized at the same time. While not fully computerized like some electronic acts, Owe Emfestav has lent some electronic elements to his singing. The result of this is a combination of the melodic and electronic, sounding very similar to both early Depeche Mode and even French pop act Air. Unlike some other synth-pop groups, A Blue Ocean Dream has 12 full songs, rather than dragging out a couple ones. This avoids repetition and makes the album a lot easier to listen to.
One of the unique elements that separate A Blue Ocean Dream from other groups of this type is its tempo. Rather than trying to make songs that people can immediately dance to in a club, Owe Emfestav has chosen to take the tempo down a notch and focus more on all of the unique sounds in his music. All of the tracks here feel like worlds in themselves, and are very nice to just sit and relax to. The variety of sounds keeps things fresh, something that some groups of this type are often unable to do. By avoiding constantly repeating rhythms and song structures A Blue Ocean Dream feels very fresh throughout, and is worth listening to all the way through.
On the Road to Wisdom is admittedly an album that is going to take some time to fully appreciate when compared to other groups. The organic sounds that have been created for this release are extremely deep and will transport listeners into a different world, as long as they give it the chance. A Blue Ocean Dream isn't your average synth-pop group, and definitely is worth the listen for fans of this unique style of music.
http://www.adifferentdrum.com
Chris Dahlberg
January 12, 2007

Reviewer: Brian Redwood-Smith
Album: "electric"
Rate: 5 out of 5

I'm glad i discoverd ' A blue Ocean Dream ' this album is fab
Pure electronic music with influences from Jarre to Kraftwerk. The smooth vocoded vocals are just perfect and never get too much.The best tracks are in your eyes and electric poetry , the later is a clear tribute to kraftwerks autobahn. This album is one of the best electro pop albums i have heard for many years. Get it now , put the headphones on a drift.

Review from http://www.hard-wired.org.uk
On the road to wisdom
9.5 out of 10
Posted February 2006
By: Carl Jenkinson

Being influenced by & even imitating one's idols is nothing new but few have ever displayed their influences so blatantly as Owe Emfestav, who must be Kraftwerk's biggest fan, does on his third album. Even some of the titles get in on the act in the case of "OOTW (Robot Version)", where the computer voice is a dead ringer for the Russian part of The Robots & "Musiq Roboter" while the use of telephone sounds on "Are You OK?" brings side 2 of Electric Cafe to mind. In many cases this can mean the act can look forward to a short shelf life but this particular pitfall is avoided here as each & every one of these tracks is just so superb that it just does not matter and if there's ever been a more perfect synthpop track than the opening "People Unite" then I've yet to hear it. The dynamic sequencing & the ultra-infectious effected vocals jel so perfectly that this is the aural equivalent of love at first sight. Of course, you then have the job of following such a masterpiece & while such heights are rarely scaled again there's still not a dull moment to be found here so while the rhythms of the following "Automatic" again ape you-know-who the excellent tune carries it through with flying colours. Furthermore the more emotive elements that grace "On A Rainy Day" (which also offers further proof of Owe's au naturelle vocal prowess!) & the very personal, downbeat "Fall Down" allow the music's human elements to shine through in an expert manner that also recalls Karl Bartos' recent works. Moreover, this high standard is maintained throughout as the racey (in a manner of speaking!) "Streets Of Monaco", the aforementioned ""OOTW" & the smooth closer "Road 303", where the computer voice takes the lead, all ensure this high standard is maintained right up until the very last note. In a perfect world all synthpop would be this good & while some might be put off by the obvious influences I'm enjoying this far too much to even begin to care!!

Review from www.regenmag.com
On the Road to Wisdom
4 stars out of 5
Posted: Thursday, April 27, 2006
By: Erica Anderson

On the Road to Wisdom is a warm, lush synthpop album but the music sounds too much like the artist’s musical influences.A Blue Ocean Dream is a one-man act by Owe Emfestav from Gavle, Sweden, whose music can be described as electro-pop, electronic pop, or synthpop. On the Road to Wisdom is his latest CD, and for synthpop fans, AOn the Road to Wisdom is a warm, lush synthpop album Blue Ocean Dream’s music will feel like an ‘80s revival with its blend of lush electronic beats and infectious synthesized melodies. In his biography, Owe admits to being a big admirer of various new wave bands including Depeche Mode, OMD, Ultravox, and New Order. He certainly wears his influences on his sleeve with pride, which is both a good and a bad thing. It is nice to see an artist pay some sort of tribute to his or her influences, but it also shows not a whole lot of imagination in the creativity department. The Kraftwerk influence is really obvious throughout the album, like on the opening track, “People Unite” with the robotic vocals. Unfortunately, Owe tends to rely too much on computer effects with his vocals that after awhile, they begin to get on one’s nerves. “People Unite” is a catchy song, however the robotic vocals eventually become dull after a couple of minutes into the song. One of the stronger tracks on the CD is “On a Sunny Day.” The song is a fun, pop song with a good hook. Unlike the previous track, “Automatic,” the lyrics aren’t as repetitive. The other song that stood out is “Computerized,” which is a throwback to the ‘80s. All of the songs on On the Road to Wisdom are unquestionably catchy; it is too bad that after halfway through the CD, they begin to sound alike. Repetition plagues this album in both the music and lyrics. Owe Emfestav needs to lay off the computer effects and let his real voice shine through in the music. Owe could also stop relying so much on his past influences and maybe bring in some of his current influences. On the Road to Wisdom is a solid synthpop album, but it certainly wasn’t one of the better albums in this genre to be released last year.

Review of "On the road to wisdom", from http://www.graveconcernsezine.com

A Blue Ocean Dream's fascination with 1980s synthpop is in clear evidence on
the Swedish solo project's latest album, but unfortunately the numerous
references to dated camp fail as often as they succeed. "Musiq Roboter" is
catchy and endearing despite its inherent silliness, but the alien invasion
theme of "OOTW" and the sampled telephones of "Are You OK?" are painfully
clichéd and amateurish. The more straightforward and sincere pieces are much
better. "Fall Down," for example, is an understated ballad in the vein of
early Depeche Mode, while "Down To Vegas" is a hard-driving synthpop track
with fast dance beats and some sharply delivered spoken word parts. "On A
Sunny Day" is a rather insubstantial love song, but catchy vocal hooks and
bouncy keyboards make up for the fluffiness, and "Cold" and "Streets of
Monaco" are decent if not entirely original synthpop that should appeal to
fans of other retro electronic acts. In A Blue Ocean Dream's defense,
although this album is derivative of classic acts from two decades ago, it
doesn't directly imitate any of them. Rather than sounding like a Depeche
Mode rip-off or a Human League clone, this project has an original enough
sound that you could confuse them for an actual undiscovered '80s act.
Though the adherence to dated sounds and formulas will no doubt be a
turn-off to some, diehard fans of old-school synthpop may end up enjoying
this album a great deal.

Julie Johnson \( Gothgirl/Grave Concerns E-zine\)

Taken from the www.synthpop.net site:

"On the road to wisdom"

This is the third album for Owe Emfestav's project A Blue Ocean Dream, but the first to be released on the A Different Drum, with the previous two albums having been self-released. This album was preceeded by the first single release for ABOD, "Cold", released in the 3" CD single format.

This album finds ABOD taking a slightly more energetic approach to the music, while also showing a great deal of Kraftwerkian influence. "Musiq Roboter" is a very good example of the Kraftwerk influence creeping in here, but it's melded with a extremely catchy pop song. So instead of sounding derivative, which some might want to accuse it of, it sounds like a great pop song which just happens to tip the hat to Kraftwerk. "On A Sunny Day" is a light, poppy song that doesn't really immediately grab the ear, but has grown on me a lot.

"Computerized" is a track I was fortunate to hear the demo version of, and I still think it would have made for a stronger lead-off single. It's got a great catchy synth riff, and to my ear has a lot of possibilites open as far as remixing. It's a great song, possibly the best on the album. Maybe a little simple in some areas, but just all-out catchy. "Are You Ok?" is a solid song, but the phone ring sound used here sounds far to realistic! I keep looking at my phones all the time while it's playing almost out of reflex! "Streets Of Monaco" is another solid song here, with a smooth melody that might not immediately grab attention but does draw the listener in.

Overall, ABOD has given us a solid third album here. I can't say that it's the best thing I've ever heard from the project, "Electric" still has this album beat, but it does have some good moments and overall is a good album.


Added: Friday, December 23, 2005
Reviewer: Jason Baker
Score: 3.5 out of 5

A review of "On the road to wisdom", in spanish, from the webzine, www.sonidobscuro.com

Título: "On The Road To Wisdom"
Grupo: A Blue Ocean Dream

Puntuación: 8.5 / 10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nuevo trabajo de ésta banda de electro-pop muy famosa en Suecia, su tierra natal, desde su primer álbum en 2002 titulado 'The Sea', después llegó 'Electric' en 2004, para finalmente llegar el adelanto a éste LP enforma de Mini CD o EP 'Cold', muy interesante y que ya nos vislumbraba las nuevas vistas del éste nuevo trabajo.
El estilo que podemos decir de esta original formación se inspira en Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Jean Michelle Jarre, Alphaville y otra serie de grupos que disfrutan de éste estilo de música melódica a base del uso de sintes y voces robotizadas y tratadas en un estilo de puro electro synth pop la música mas fresca que se heredó de la new age.

Precioso, detallista y muy inteligente disco lleno de referencias a temas de otros artistas ya mencionados u otros recientes como FPU y Neuroactive pero con un estilo renovado y limpio con el electro como fondo común, se reparte el disco en 12 cortes, comenzando en un viaje por el mundo, aunando a todo el mundo en un mensaje llamado 'People Unite' en un grito suave casi humano desde la voz de una máquina que continúa en 'Automatic' con sus susurros amorosos y de sentimientos del un 'Musiq Roboter', máquina con conciencia humana que crea pop sintético un desafío para sorprender al humano que a veces perdemos.

Llegamos a disfrutar de un día soleado en este robótico viaje con la preciosa 'On A Sunny Day', 'Computerized' y la canción estrella 'Down To Vegas' incluída en el recopilatorio de 'Synth Pop Anthems Vol.4', ya que tienen un contenido mas dedicado a la pista de baile y muy soprendente, de letra comprometida y en contra del sueño americano tanto como de ritmo muy adecuado para ello.

'Cold' tema que dió nombre al single, 'Fall Down', 'Are You Ok' en clave de medio tiempo nos dejan sus melodías en inglés y ésta última en parte en alemán, muy muy intensa en cuanto a carga emocional se refiere. El viaje no obstante continúa hasta llevarnos a las calles de Monte Carlo 'Streets Of Monaco' otro juego con el poder y el dinero que alli se mueven; luego nos llevan fuera de este mundo con 'OOTW' (Out Of This World) en su aspecto mas robótico para alegrarnos en dicho destino y terminar con el deseo de llegar a la eternidad 'Road 303' mas bailable y technoide.

Un disco de los que gustan escuchar mas de una vez porque apreciamos cada vez nuevas melodías de las que pensábamos que había al principio, y sobre todo porque hace mucho tiempo que no hay muchas novedades en el techno robótico y electro pop de calidad y en este caso nuevamente A Blue Ocean Dream han puesto nuevamente su piedra, el nuevo hito en el camino a ese mundo que tan a menudo es criticado por su falta de humanidad en su concepción como en sus resultados, cosa que se descarta absolutamente con este claro ejemplo. Muy recomendable para los amantes de la buena música.

Review from the Musicnonstop musicshop

New A Different Drum signings A Blue Ocean Dream play melodic, analog-driven synthpop, pulling influences from the pioneering sounds of Kraftwerk, but adding vocal depth and a modern production touch. Their debut album "On the Road to Wisdom" presents heavy-set analogue synthesizers mixing with catchy electronic hooks and classic Swedish flavoured electro-pop. Reminiscent of contemporary acts such as Fischerspooner and The Hacker, but with a depth and maturity to the classic song-writing and arrangements.

From the www.re-flexion.de site (in german)

Hinter dem Projektnamen A Blue Ocean Dream verbirgt sich der Schwede Owe Emfestav. Mit „On The Road To Wisdom“ präsentiert er sein erstes Album bei A Different Drum.
Die CD beinhaltet zwölf Titel, die sich aus rein synthetischen und vor allem melodiösen Ursprungsgedanken entwickelten und eine positive Frische und zwanglose Verspieltheit vermitteln.
Interessante Basslines werden durch fast schon frivole Melodienbögen bereichert und die sich daraus ergebende Mixtur grenzt an eine Mixtur von Nostalgie und Zeitlosigkeit.
Gesanglich werden die ansonsten gut zu den Sounds passenden Vokals von Owe Emfestavan manchmal durch leichte Verzerrungen maschinell angehaucht oder auch durch Vokodereinsätze verfremdet – man fühlt sich an diversen Stellen des Albumd durchaus einmal an das diesbezügliche Gedankengut von Bands wie Kraftwerk und deren vokalen Umsetzungen erinnert.
„On The Road To Wisdom“ ist ein in sich flüssiges und sehr stimmiges Album, dessen positive Schatten schnell den Synthpopfan ereilen und ihn erobern werden.
Titel wie „People Unite“, „Computerized“ oder auch „Streets Of Monaco“ stehen sysnonym für ein wirklich gelungenes erstes Album und das wieder einmal richtige Händchen von A Different Drum in punkto Synthpop-Newcomer.

Ingo Möller

Reviewer: e-head, from "electronic-body-music.com"

"Cold"
A Blue Ocean Dream have placed itself in the melodic Synthpop genre, that as catchphrase has almost been banished from A Different Drum. The difference of too many other Releases of the Label lies itself to be sure therein, that A Blue Ocean Dream do not bomb the dance area in the modern 4/4 beat, but rather more elegantly as it´s examples. These are, and they can´t be ignored, Kraftwerk, the early Depeche (ca. to the Speak & Spell era), Jean-Michel Jarre and Alphaville. "Cold" is the lead single to the album "On The Road To Wisdom", which also will be released by A Different Drum. In spite of the "Old School" -Sounds, "Cold" is very fresh, where the blipps and blopps are minimally held on purpose. There are 3 versions on the single, that were all remixed by A Blue Ocean Dream, but they differ tremendously from one another. The last bonus song "El Dorado" is not that interesting but although very exciting. It´s hard to tell just from one single what the CD will sound like, and in what direction ABOD are heading...

Verdict: 3,5 out of 5

Review of "electric" from the soundoo.com site

This is a very tasteful album with mostly downtempo, but still rythmic and synthpop influenced music.The influences from Kraftwerk and Alphaville etc. can be found in the songs "electric poetry" and "the time".Yet has Abod captured a special own sound with beats, synthesizers and voices that´s not similar to any of it´s music prototypes.

In songs like "Hello Japan","In Orbit","show you my love" and "music in my head" A Blue Ocean Dream shows proof of intelligent songstructures and a new fresh thinking in the electronic genre.

One other thing that´s worth mentioning, is that this album is only made with software instruments!, you won´t notice the difference!!

A Great review from Jason Baker, a well respected reviewer from the www.synthpop.net site

A Blue Ocean Dream - Electric

This is the second album for ABOD, following "The Sea" which was released in 2002. While that album was primarily instrumental, all the songs on this album include vocals this time around. The project is the results of Owe Emfastau's musical efforts since the late 70's and is a direct result of him moving away from straight techno into a more pop-friendly musical setting.

The music was all composed using software synths, but I would have never have known it had I not read the band's website. The analogue sounds used here sound almost perfectly like they were created with hardware synths - you'll probably not even be able to tell the difference.

While the lyrics may seem a little lacking in depth at times, in instances where that seems to be true I find that they serve more to reinforce the overall atmosphere of the song more than anything else. And this cd certainly has a lot of atmospheric qualities to it. It's easy to see how the first cd produced by ABOD was a more ambient leaning disc, as those influences are still present and noticeable here. That being the case, it's a little hard to point out one song over the other, as the whole album overall seems to flow from one song to another quite seamlessly. I thought "Hello Japan", "In Orbit" and "Show You My Love" were all very good songs, but could say the same about nearly all the other songs on this disc. While it's a tad short at just under 40 minutes, it's still a very impressive sophomore release from the project. ABOD is a project that fans of bands such as B! Machine owe it to themselves to check out.. a very enjoyable band that is getting better with time!


Added: Thursday, July 29, 2004
Reviewer: Jason Baker (Synthpop.net, 700 reviews)
Score: 4½ stars (out of five)

A Review from the e-zine Moving Hands (www.movinghands.net)


A Blue Ocean Dream is a solo project from Owe Emfestav. The demo album “Electric” contains eleven electronic cool synth pop songs. No song sticks out more than another. But it’s well produced and its quite good.

Thou I normally listen to harder electronic music I think that this is really good but it is no record I normally would buy. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t good – only that I don’t appreciate it that much.

This is an album for you who like calm electronic pop. Many different noise and sounds in a great electronic composition. I can see myself sit in a warm and cosy armchair with a blanket reading a good book with ABOD in the background. There is no doubt about that his work is inspired both by Kraftwerk and Jean-Michel Jarre but he is doing it good. It is quite obvious on “Show you my love my love” and “The time”, which happens to be the two best songs on the album

/Niclas Sandén / moving hands

A german review, from the e-zine e-lectric.de

A Blue Ocean Dream - Electric
(A Blue Ocean Dream ABOD002) - CD
It's not only Kraftwerk outhere making electronic pop! Was für ein genialer Werbespruch, allerdings auch keine wirklich neue Erkenntnis, denn wenn dem so wäre, daß nach Ralf Hütter und Co. nichts Neues mehr gekommen sei, könnten nicht nur wir gleich einpacken und unsere Homepage schließen. Nun denn, der Mann, der diese weisen Worte auf seiner Presseinfo von sich gibt, heißt Owe Emfestav. Nein, das ist nicht rückwärts geschrieben, Owe kommt aus Schweden, dort heißt man zur Abwechslung schon mal so. Dafür hat er seine CD netterweise "Electric" genannt, welches nicht nur die für die Erzeugung der darauf zu hörenden Töne notwendige Kraft bezeichnet, sondern auch ein Online-Musikmagazin besonderer Güte (an dieser Stelle kam bei der Wochenshow auf SAT.1 immer die Stimme aus dem Off: "Brisko!"). Ja, ist ja gut, ich konzentriere mich ja schon auf das Wesentliche. Die Musik also. Die elf Stücke auf "Electric" klingen genauso, wie man sich das Produkt aus dem mit analogem elektronischem Gerät vollgestopften Heimstudio eines fanatischen Synthifreaks vorstellt. Owe kombiniert den puren Minimalismus und die Roboterstimmen von Kraftwerk mit den flächigen, melodiösen Sounds eines Jean-Michel Jarre. Mal spacig, mal verspielt-frickelig, mal hymnisch und mal tranceartig-träumerisch holt der Künstler eine bunte Palette von fantastischen Klängen aus seinen Musikmaschinen. Wer (wie ich) eine Schwäche für analoge Sounds hat und sich nicht an gelegentlich eingestreuten Reminiszenzen an die großen Vorbilder (z.B. das typische "Autobahn"-Pluckern bei "The Time") stört, sollte unbedingt mal www.abod.se ansteuern und hineinhören, dort gibt es auch die CD zu bestellen. Ich würde es tun! (AW)

(CD: THE SEA)

"beautiful, laid-back in an atmospheric overall relaxed, dreamy feel."

The Sea, is the 1st release of the Swedish musician Owe Emfestav, who formely made techno-trancemusic with a Kraftwerk-touch. Although the Sea is rather different from that, it evitable contains slight techno-trance rhythms, but handled in an atmospheric, more delicate way. This is mood music with the water & sea as core inspiration, and although sounding a bit too predictable or synthetic here and there it also has beautiful, laid-back moments such as "By the Sea" or "Sand". The structure is kept quite simple, sequence-beat/rhythm/slight melody, but the overall relaxed, dreamy feel might e.g. appeal to those in the ambient-chill corner..

Bert Strolenberg Klem Magazine

A Blue Ocean Dream - The Sea -"The album is very atmospheric"

This is the 2002 debut album for A Blue Ocean Dream, self released by the band. Unlike the second album, this album is totally instrumental, without vocals at any point. The album is very atmospheric, as you might imagine, with an ambient leaning heavily evident in each track.

However, unlike the Symbion Project album "Immortal Game" (one of the best ambient-oriented cds I've ever heard), the individual songs here don't leap out much. There's not one with a tremendous bassline that immediately grabs your attention, or one particular synth hook that really jumps out at me. The album is soothing, calm, and low-key, but as a consequence is not terribly memorable either. It's enjoyable, but mostly suitable as background music.

Added: Sunday, August 01, 2004
Reviewer: Jason Baker
Score: