ALBUM NOTES:

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Magical Thinking is an instrumental album issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 1000 copies.

 

The album is the first to appear from a wealth of guitar-based instrumental tracks that Nelson has assembled at various times, under the broader project name of Guitars of Tomorrow, spanning a period of more than three years.

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Guitars of Tomorrow was conceived when a couple of instrumental tracks, completed in February 2023, steered Nelson in a particular direction. At the time, Nelson was working on two other albums, Starlight Stories, which was then nearing completion, and another work in progress album called Fables of the Future, this title was later abandoned due to it being used as a track title previously.

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The first mention of Guitars of Tomorrow appeared in the monthly Dreamsville newsletter dated 3 March 2023, with Nelson then making reference to it in his latest Journal entry dated 2 April 2023.

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At the end of the month Nelson listed 127 song titles that were spread across six different albums - three of which, Marvellous Realms, All the Fun of the Fair and Starlight Stories were either already released or completed and being readied for release. Those three albums account for 47 of the 127 tracks. The remaining 80 tracks were apportioned to Guitars of Tomorrow, Fables of the Future and a third, as yet, untitled album. 

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In the following Dreamsville newsletter, dated 5 May 2023, Guitars of Tomorrow was scheduled to appear after All the Fun of the Fair (released on 3 November 2023) with it possibly appearing as a double album, “containing heavily layered futuristic guitar instrumental tracks with a historical twist.” 

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Work on Guitars of Tomorrow appeared to be reaching a conclusion by the time of the 7 June 2023 newsletter, as Nelson was reportedly putting the final touches to its final track ahead of deciding on the album’s running order. However, that particular plan gave way as Nelson continued his daily recording sessions through the summer adding more material to the project as he did so.

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By November 2023, with even more tracks to choose from, Guitars of Tomorrow had moved away from being seen as a single, individual album, towards becoming a series of albums released across several volumes. 

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With attention given to the release of three completed albums –  Starlight Stories, Powertron and Studio Cadet - it was several months before a further update on Guitars of Tomorrow would appear.

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That update arrived on 4 April 2024, again in the monthly newsletter, in which it was clear that even more material had been amassed for Guitars of Tomorrow, boldly stating that “Bill will now take a step back to start sorting through the tracks that he's recorded, hopefully getting the first instalment mastered in the next few weeks...”

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Just over two weeks later Nelson provided his own update on the Dreamsville forum revealing that he had a total of 68 tracks recorded for the project. Nelson also confirmed the intention to release the material over a series of individual volumes each with its own individual title but all bearing the subtitle Guitars of Tomorrow. 

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However, the plan to focus on selecting tracks for the first volume of the Guitars of Tomorrow series of albums once again gave way to Nelson’s habitual recording sessions in which more new material was added to the long list of contenders. 

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In the 5 July 2024 newsletter, progress of sorts was announced when it was confirmed that the first volume of Guitars of Tomorrow would be called Magical Thinking. Of the 68 finished tracks listed in April 2024, just eight would be included on that first volume, with the other six tracks stemming from later sessions.

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It would be well over a year later before anything further was revealed with respect to the Guitars of Tomorrow project, but in the newsletter dated 7 November 2025, a link to its then current potential content was provided. This track listing comprised a staggering 186 track titles but Nelson still wasn’t ready to conclude this work in progress!

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At the end of May 2026, with the track listing having by then expanded to a total of 218 titles, Nelson finally drew a close to proceedings and made final decisions on the track listings and album titles for the first three volumes in the series; volume 2 being called The Art of Light and Elsewhere being the title of volume 3.

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Magical Thinking was mastered (alongside The Art of Light and Elsewhere) at Fairview Studios by John Spence over a week in June 2026 with artwork completed by Martin Bostock and Bill Nelson the following month.

 

Pre-order details for Magical Thinking (Guitars of Tomorrow Volume One) were announced by Burning Shed on 7 August 2026, with a release date for both the physical CD and Bandcamp digital download on 4 September 2026.

 

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CURRENT AVAILABILITY:

 

Available to pre-order here in the Dreamsville Store.

 

 

BILL'S THOUGHTS:

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Magical Thinking is the first release from a multi-volume series of electric guitar instrumentals, all of which are subtitled Guitars Of Tomorrow. This epic project is the product of a three year long recording schedule that will stretch to at least six or seven volumes. The pieces are spontaneously composed or improvised and explore guitar textures and tones across a wide range of styles. I hope that fans of electric guitar music will find much to intrigue and enjoy.

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