Julee Cruise - Floating Into The Night (Album Review)

 

Julee Cruise - Floating Into The Night

(1989)

My copy: 2023 limited reissue on pink vinyl by Sacred Bones Records.

With a floating, ethereal voice like the lingering fragrance of a long departed lover, Julee Cruise is the pinnacle of atmosphere wherever her voice hangs. Having been “found” by Angelo Badalamenti and thusly providing her talent to a handful of iconic moments in David Lynch’s filmography, Cruise’s reputation likely precedes her through the Twin Peaks theme “Falling.” While she hits a few snares typical to early dream-pop, Floating Into The Night is largely an inventive and surreal extrapolation on the British 4AD style. 

The show begins with the honking, then sighing woodwind of “Floating,” where brushed drums create a lounge-jazz vibe, as if to make room for Cruise’s quiet gliding vocals. The arrangements are tender and sweet, similar to her dream-pop contemporaries albeit with the added flare of the saxophone. “Falling” is just as lush and mysterious now as it was before gaining acclaim through Twin Peaks; it’s blues-adjacent two-note bass line anchoring the emotional swells of voice and synth like depth charges across an otherwise easy sea. Diving back down to lounge music, “I Remember” is at first sensual and smooth - later abruptly delving into a psychotic rabbit hole of dissonant notes; their textures still confusingly inviting in their sour exuberance. 

Then comes the fluttering waltz “Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart,” played with a romantic optimism that is distinctly youthful, setting it apart from the UK counterparts. “Mysteries Of Love” was featured in Lynch’s Blue Velvet and was conjured in a percussion-less haze of smokey synth so as to purposely replicate the lullabies of 4AD supergroup This Mortal Coil. After fog sets in, “Into The Night” goes covert with swung cymbals and eerie chords, as if to represent the unraveling of some insidious plot. The music then suddenly ramps up into an unexpected clatter (a literal bump in the night, if you will) only to revert back to normal. “I Float Alone” mixes in dramatic organ pokes and glistening synth to keep the compositions varied in their sleepy rhythms, “The Nightingale” doubling up on this with a triumphant progression and soaring harmonies. 

“The Swan” begins to lull a bit too much, though distinctly glassy keys and rising drones hint at ominous undertones, Cruise’s steady voice acting as a premonitory force for some fated calamity. Repurposing the skeleton of “Falling,” “The World Spins” is a final mournful ballad, with Cruise whispering sweet nothings and pleading in the name of love.

With Floating Into The Night Cruise proves that she should not be shackled down to her fame as the singer of “Falling,” rather she should be paid the respect she is due for predating Twin Peaks with an LP of songs that match the quirky, otherworldly charm of the aforementioned program - tied together lovingly by her signature lilt.