Dreamsong is composed of a careful blend of synthesized sounds and recorded natural sounds that have been digitally processed or resynthesized. Termed "a classic of the genre" by New Yorker music critic Andrew Porter, it presents an expressive sonic continuum ranging from unaltered natural sounds to entirely new sounds — or, more poetically, from the real world to the realm of the imagination.

This widely influential work was one of the earliest to achieve, through the precision of digital processing, a smoother integration of these two elements than was previously possible in either studio-produced electronic music or live performance.

In Dreamsong, the listener is repeatedly drawn in by references to familiar musical, vocal, and environmental material, only to be transported into a vivid alien landscape by an unexpected and surprising sonic manipulation. Constant transformations of timbre and texture, fluid shifting between familiar sounds and imaginary musical images, and illusory spatial movement all combine to powerful musical effect. An extended melodic line adds a strong thread of continuity.

Dreamsong premiered at the first concert of the newly-created Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, in November 1978. The vocal timbres are based on the voice of soprano Marilyn Barber.

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