Amos Lee - Dreamland

With one foot in the real world and the other in a charmed dimension of his own making, Amos Lee creates the rare kind of music that's emotionally raw yet touched with a certain magical quality. On his eighth album Dreamland, the Philadelphia-born singer/songwriter intimately documents his real-world struggles (alienation, anxiety, loneliness, despair), an outpouring born from deliberate and often painful self-examination. But, thanks to a palpable sense of playfulness, Dreamland embodies an unpredictable and endlessly imaginative sound-a prime showcase for Lee's warmly commanding voice and soul-baring songwriting. With the release of Dreamland, Lee hopes that his songs might inspire others to live more fully and free of fear. "Over the course of my life I've come to understand that music is my bridge to other people," he says. "I have no idea what the waters are like below that bridge-it might be lava for all I know-but music allows me to float over the whole thing and connect. To me that's the whole point of why we do this: to give people something to listen to and be enveloped by the love of another human being, and just be reminded that humanity is beautiful."