Grinding this week to release a new collaboration with A.R Tokin
"Dreaming While Awake" is an artist that was born 2 years ago on SoundCloud, created by
Espen Skaar (myself) - a Jazz and Rock bassist of 30 years in the San Francisco, California
music scene. With just a few dozen followers DWA began to grow with a small group of fellow
producers on SoundCloud. At the start we learned how to support each other by reposting each
other's music, growing our audience, learning the craft, encouraging each-other to never stop,
and I have always made it a point to embrace discipline.
After about 14 months of working hard on music releasing about three songs a week DWA
finally made a big break. Our music ambitions went from a dream to a reality when we hit
around 4000 followers on SoundCloud and we started getting requests for collaborations. By
now we had a few songs that had charted on SoundCloud and RepostExchange, and our
Instagram began picking up major steam. This was a very exciting time, it became clear to me
that "Dreaming While Awake" would be a lifelong venture. Since then we have come a long
way, and we have become much more serious about how we approach music.
"Dreaming While Awake" is a state of mind, it is a way to look at the world, it is a way to make
the full subconscious/conscious connection, and it is a way to believe in yourself. Music has
helped Espen overcome many personal challenges that almost eliminated him from the music
scene.
DWA’s music comes from great expertise in music theory, synthesizers, and software - coupled
with a creative approach that strives to be different from everything else Espen hears. DWA has
combined elements of Jazz, Latin, and Middle Eastern music with Electronic Dance Beats to
bring old music to a younger demographic.
Espen Skaar writes, arranges, performs, and masters all the music as well as distributes, creates artwork, promotes, and runs the business side of "Dreaming While Awake". Kenna-Rae - a close regular-collaborator with "Dreaming While Awake", has also helped with promotion and expansion of their collaborations.
