From the liner notes: "Solely intended for nighttime listening, at a loud volume." I agree with that sentiment.

This is not what I was expecting, not that I was even sure of what I was expecting but this wasn't it. The album is a collection of epically morose music from former Nine Inch Nails drummer, and sometimes guitarist, Jerome Dillon. The music contained on Reminder is a demonstration of what an original mind, and the tutelage of one Trent Reznor can do to a mind. Now, I am not sure what type of influence Trent had on Jerome, but I sense some underlying similarities between the sound structures here, and those employed on Reznor's albums.

Reminder took me on a journey with no discernible start or end, or even a reason for being. It is a journey for the sake of art. The music is beautiful in the sad depressed manner with which it flows out of the speakers to my ears. Each song standing on its own as an interesting and emotionally involving work, yet when taken as an album, the collection of songs becomes more than that. Each song picking up where the previous left off and leading into the next, a complete work that should be taken as such.

Jerome Dillon, along with Brett Pierce and Claudia Sarne have crafted an album of such beauty and maturity, an album which introduces the world to a new creative force. The music has takes on a very personal nature, as if Dillon was purging himself of something or working through an emotional experience, documenting the journey in these songs.

The music is a combination of industrial, acoustic, and stringed influences coming together to create an artistic mode of expression. An expression that is not so much literal, as it is a reflection seeking a connection on an emotional level. Music I find useless to describe at the song level, it is so much better when taken as a whole, you will find yourself swept up in the wave.

Remember the names of Jerome Dillon and Bret Pierce, this album bears witness to their incredible ability. The talent for creating multi-layered music more than a technical exercise, injecting it with real emotion and feeling is staggering. Emotionally heavy, technically precise, and completely engaging.

Bottomline. nearLY : Reminder is a true classic and one of the better albums to have emerged in recent years. This is music to listen to and absorb. A morose journey that will leave with a feeling of hope, not an easy task, and one made to look easy here. This an album that you will want to add to your collection, beautiful, mysterious, timeless.

Highly Recommended.