About

Floating into the Night is the debut studio album by the American dream pop musician Julee Cruise. It was released on September 12, 1989 on Warner Bros. Records.

Floating into the Night was produced—and all songs were written by—composer Angelo Badalamenti and film director David Lynch; Badalamenti composed the music and Lynch wrote the lyrics. According to Lynch, 40 songs were written for the album in total, with the final track listing including 10 tracks. Floating into the Night is a dream pop album, with heavy elements of jazz and traditional jazz instrumentation; Rolling Stone considered Floating into the Night as a definitive development of the dream pop sound, describing how the album "added depth to [the genre]" and "gave the genre its synthy sheen", particularly on the track "Mysteries of Love".

Cruise's vocals on Floating into the Night feature heavy use of digital reverb. Cruise regarded herself as "a Broadway belter" and had a reputation in her earlier career for letting "angry and aggressive emotions power her work". However, Lynch "felt that Cruise had a 'soft, sad side'" and encouraged her to sing in a softer tone and in a higher register; Cruise's vocal style on the album has been often regarded as "ethereal" and drawn comparisons to Elizabeth Fraser on the earlier releases by the Cocteau Twins. – Wiki

“The production is perfect. The echoing synth, distant percussion and fluid dreamlike arrangements makes ‘Floating Into The Night’ sound like it was recorded in outer space. The title is actually extremely apt - listening to it really does give an impression of floating away into the darkness.

Julee Cruise’s singing on the album is fantastic. Her unearthly voice soars above the music, complimenting the sparse arrangements perfectly. Unlike other ‘ethereal’ singers like Dead Can Dance’s Lisa Gerrard and The Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Frazer who usually sing with a lot of vibrato, Julee Cruise’s powerful ghostly singing is always completely clear and smooth. Her light and airy voice contrasts brilliantly with the dark, melancholy music. While the lyrics are very simple, the themes of loss and longing that are explored fit the dark atmosphere well.” – Sputnik Music

“The combination of Cruise's sweet, light tones, Lynch's surprisingly affecting lyrics, which play just enough with clichés so as not to seem willfully ironic, and Angelo Badalamenti's combination of retro styles and modern ambience, is a winner throughout.” – Allmusic

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