Sanford: Opens The Flaps On "Big Tent Revival" With Timeworn Reflection On "Hooked On A Dream"
- Charles Luberisse
- a few seconds ago
- 2 min read
Written By: Big C
Sanford: begins his next chapter by looking backward, not with regret, but with clarity. Hooked On A Dream, the first glimpse into his forthcoming third album Big Tent Revival, drifts through memory like a half-lit street at closing time. Built on alt-rock textures shaped by the late-’80s and early-’90s, the song captures the ache of moments which once felt permanent. It’s intimate without sentimentality, grounded in lived experience, and carried by Sanford’s quietly resolute voice. The track situates itself in Manhattan’s Avenue A circa 2008, but its emotional reach stretches far beyond geography. Sanford: describes it as:
Thanks to a hard drive failure it almost didn’t happen, and due to some recovery services being more like extortion, I was almost ready to just let the songs and album be forgotten. Luckily, I found someone that was much more reasonable so the album continued. There’s a mix of very personal views on some songs, personal experiences, commentary on scenes and current events, music industry, AI and long mostly fictional epics.
"Hooked On A Dream" ushers in "Big Tent Revival," framing nostalgia as acceptance. There’s even a fleeting musical nod to David Lynch embedded in the arrangement, a blink-and-you-miss-it homage which reinforces the song’s dreamlike disorientation. The result feels like you're standing still while time moves around you. The album arrives January 30 and explores impermanence from multiple angles of fleeting connection, faith, industry fatigue, and cultural noise. The album is a fully self-written, recorded, and performed project, all filtered through Sanford’s hybrid palette of jazz, Americana, folk, prog, and country. Pre-save the album now and follow Sandford: on INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE, and BANDCAMP.