"Motifs that are cluttered on early tracks become strong mantras later on, and drum grooves begin to feel natural after enough repetition. Even when the music gives way to a multitude of speaking voices and synthetic noise, these are used as a rare moment of release and serve to set up the next haunting melody....it is the kind of electric shock that jazz needs every now and then to prove it is still breathing." Tree Palmedo/Jazzscene

"As a whole, Furiously Dreaming, is full of complex, angular lines. While some of it is tightly composed, other tracks offer extended horn solos and improvisations. Elements of both free improv and atmospheric drones are present. All of this is the foreground of an orchestral jazz band backdrop....In sum, Hubbard et al. have released a brilliantly compelling album of dense, uncategorizable music." Avant Music News

"Furiously Dreaming is a two-CD set by percussionist / composer / musical visionary Nathan Hubbard and his 50-member (for this recording) Skeleton Key Orchestra. The leader or co-leader of a dozen or so different small ensembles playing everything from modern jazz to contemporary classical music to free improvisation to funky jazz-rock fusion, Hubbard takes all of this—plus spoken word and choral music—and spins it up into a frothy whirlwind on Furiously Dreaming. The result is surprisingly tight, and constrained in ways one wouldn't expect....The music rocks and sways more than swings in the traditional sense. It's experimental, yet not harsh. Hubbard writes with his soloists in mind, and this proves to be a saving grace throughout the album's seven (out of eight, total) very lengthy tracks." Dave Wayne/All About Jazz

"This music does for me what I want from good, challenging music. I am fully engaged as a listener from moment to moment, eager to catch the development of a motif or transition. Hubbard will often continually change and surprisingly change the orchestration of a motif in its development. Like Charles Ives, themes and motifs overlap. He will occasionally juxtapose the ordinary, such as jumbled voices that you’d hear at a party, with the unordinary, dissonance or noise for example. At times his signature drumming or percussion comes through." Paul Hormick/San Diego Troubadour