‘Somni’ from Catalan translates to ‘Dream’ in English, so immediately there is no mystery about the album theme, a cinematic series of dreams, both of the relaxing and nightmarish kind.
It’s the second collaboration between Michael League’s Snarky Puppy and Metropole Orkest, the Netherlands-based ensemble renowned for its symphonic fusion of jazz, pop, and classical music. The scale of Somni is staggering: 74 musicians (20 from Snarky Puppy and 54 from Metropole Orkest), not to mention the elaborate crew for recording and filming.
League spent a month alone in an Airbnb in rural Japan composing the music, which was later developed with the full genre-fluid Snarky Puppy lineup, now featuring four drummers.