The clever and satirical singer-songwriter Ed Roman Is back with another clever track, I Have A Dream. Combining colorful imagery and deep metaphors into his writing style, Ed Roman rarely underachieves with his competent prose. “I Have A Dream” is a stripped-down, raw, and emotional piece lacking diverse instrumentation, or complex musical breaks. This is just Ed Roman armed with his trusty acoustic guitar in front of his mic signing about the little things we take for granted and painting a vibrant utopian landscape with the solutions to life’s little frustrations. As we gain an understanding of what a perfect life would look like from the eyes of our troubadour artist, each verse and stanza is resolved with the simple phrase I Have A Dream. These little dreams, however, are deep and thoughtful dreams which define true happiness, not vast wishes and unachievable goals, as stated these are the simple things that bring joy, “With all my friends around, talking about gardens with kids while eating dinner.” Of course, this wouldn’t be a signature Ed Roman piece without a little tongue-in-cheek humor, “She’s an angel’s wings, always thinks of things, like shutting off the water, ‘I Have A Dream.” It is the little frustrations that we do not recognize as having a toll on our stress levels that Ed paints vividly to us that once removed would make a perfect life indeed.

I Have A Dream is accompanied by a very amateur-looking overly backlit video which helps maintain this simple approach to this track. The shot of Ed singing to the camera with the light behind blurring out the surroundings is a little painful to watch, as the focus blurs in and out, yet this is such an ideal idea for a video as the contrast to a song lacking frills and over-production should be visually represented as well. On the other hand, the music production is very well executed, as the vocals and guitar are well separated leaving plenty of headroom for the guitar’s overtones to ring out crisp and clear while Ed Roman is free to resolve each phrase with whatever intonation fits his general mood. This intonation becomes a considerable attribute to this piece as Ed Roman couples his majestic, elegant singing voice with a spoken word articulation to drive his point home, giving audiences that little bit more than they bargained for an appeal to this song. Although, I Have A Dream may not be suited for commercial pop radio playlists, this is still a very enjoyable track, and worthy of many listens. A perfect track if you are feeling down, or generally frustrated with the little things piling up in your life.

–Lee Callaghan