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DIETER SPEARS, Late Day Summer Breeze

Jonathan Widran

Between Dieter Spears’s immersion in the 90’s local club scene in Nashville with the ensembles Picture This and Subject to Change and achieving his musical destiny as artist and co-owner of ambient music powerhouse Wayfarer Music Group (WMG), the multi-talented keyboardist composer enjoyed other lives in the visual arts, first as a graphic designer and freelance photographer, then most notably owning Inhaus Creative, a freelance audio/graphic/video company that enjoyed a ten year run as one of the top Getty/Istock Photographers in the world with over a million licensed images. In 2009, Dieter joined the production team of the indie horror film LWA: All Saints Eve as executive producer. He later worked on a number of short films.  


Dieter’s passion for the visual arts plays a prominent role on Late Day Summer Breeze, his second full length album as an artist on WMG whose infectious melodies and grooving energy quite emphatically pushes the label’s trademark aesthetic of ambient and downtempo vibes. It might surprise fans of artists on the label that he claims that one of the themes he wanted to explore on this dynamic nine-track adventure is disco music! Composed primarily during the pandemic lockdown, he says, “Late Day started off as a desire to capture the feeling I have/get from living life, and being a child of and inspired by 70s disco and early synth music.” For all its rich aural detail, it’s fascinating to note that Late Day Summer Breeze flowed out quickly, and soon evolved into a quest to, as Dieter says, “make an album with no excuses.”  


The enthusiastic response to the album leaves no doubt that his no holds barred approach has brilliant results. It is featured as CD of the Month for February 2025 on Echoes and in January was the #6 album on the NACC (North American College & Community) charts.


For instrumental music fans simply interested in a lighthearted, casual listening experience, taking Dieter’s sonically intricate, melodically and rhythmically exhilarating journey from the whimsical, carefree and ultra-breezy opening title track – a vocally tinged gem that inspired by a burst of joyful nostalgia about childhood summer days – through the hypnotic, soulfully seductive dreamscape of “The Time Before Dawn” (powerfully enhanced by soaring chantlike voices) need not involve a deeper understanding of the technical genius required to create this epic work.



To electronic music aficionados who care about the nuts and bolts of putting together a self-produced project like Late Day Summer Breeze, Dieter offers this: “I’m all-in-the-box, laptop and headphones and a Keith McMillian Kboard mini keyboard. Everything fits in a backpack. I played live bass on “Late Day Summer Breeze,” while the rest of album is all programmed midi. I love all the vintage synth plug-ins from Arturia and can’t live without my Korg M1 plug-in. I upgraded my headphones to the Audeze MM500. This rocked my world. I was able to mix the whole thing on headphones, which was amazing.”


Dieter adds that he aspired to mix this album himself in a way that was up to the standards of his engineer friends in Nashville. He then passed his mixes off to Mark Richardson at Alchmatic for Mastering, With a decade long friendship, he knew Richardson would tell him if any of the mixes were off. Thankfully, everything was up to his standards and he offered the first stamp of approval so that we could all immerse in the grand aural pleasures throughout.


One of the unique complementary elements offered by WMG for their releases is sharing a Listening Party experience, where the artist plays his/her songs and then shares some insight and inspiration for each of them. Needless to say, like his productions, Dieter’s anecdotes are compelling and highly detailed – but clearly his nine pieces can be interpreted just as easily from the perspective of the individual listeners. His sonic landscape offers a majestic palette to project many memories, hopes, fantasies, dreams, emotions and spiritual thoughts onto.


Here are a few examples of how this dual thematic interpretation can work. While to Dieter, fast paced, buoyant synth intensity and touch of tenderness in the melody of “Life With You” inspired a discussion of personal inspiration, love for his wife and a comparison with German industrial metal band Rammstein, others may simply enjoy the way he blends a Jan Hammer/”Theme from Miami Vice”-like edgy intensity with a soaring melody, inspiring thoughts of a great escape with a loved one or friend via a spirited ride up a coastal highway.


Likewise, on the quick thumping, rock-edged electronica jam “Drive The Night,” a tune featuring labelmate and WMG partner Sean O’Bryan Smith which could be appreciated as a soundtrack to fast paced, therapeutic driving through an urban cityscape – but inspired Dieter to praise Smith and conjure up memories of “Speed Racer” and childhood Saturday morning cartoons.


The multi-talented synthesist and sound painter isn’t just about fast and furious, hit the road tunes, however. He’s also masterful at creating different moods, sometimes in a single tune, backing the easy rolling and colorfully harmonic melody of “Somewhere Sometimes” with a soaring symphonic synth caress and inviting us into a more intimate ambient space (more reflective of his labelmates’ brilliant work) on the shimmering “Dreamwalks,” which fuses a dreamlike synth wash background with a melodic synth-bell melody. Not surprisingly, for Dieter, this song sparked a talk about the innocence of childhood imagination, and the way life’s responsibility gets in the way as we grow older.


Another trippy mood-setter is “The Voyage of Seantu” (perhaps a titular ode to Smith?), which boasts a seductive, dare we say, danceable groove and a an array of sweetly melodic and innovative harmonic experimentation. The endlessly engaging repertoire also includes the bouncy, 80s synth-pop flavored romp “Gotta Go Now,” a burst of sheer off the charts nostalgic joy that will certainly remind listeners of some of the classic “computer music” artists Dieter mentions – Jean-Michel Jarre, Hot Butter, Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby – and probably many more! Before wrapping with the aforementioned “The Time Before Dawn,” Dieter pops in with the fast moving, percussive funk-edged synth jam “Watchers in the Ether,” yet another “need for speed” tune that cements Late Day Summer Breeze, despite its relaxing chill title, as one of the most essential instrumental “drive time” albums of the modern era.  


Dieter, Smith and company at WMG have created a powerful and impactful creative collective full of challenging opportunities and comprised of a community of like-minded collaborators – with everyone lifting one another up through information, writing and encouragement. Dieter says, “We are excited about the future of the label and are setting it up to be a beacon of inspiration to the next generation.”    

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