Dream of the Desert

WithFeeling → Dream of the Desert · a short proposal

The desert is never silent. The brand is borrowing its voice.

A sonic identity for Dream of the Desert A sonic logo A theme Every arrival, scored

You wrote it yourselves, last November. Since then: chants, melodies, pulses, an oud on the platform, a majlis built for listening. Guests will photograph all of it. Nothing they take home will sound like Dream of the Desert.

Every guest will remember the view. Give them something to remember it by.

We’d rather play you this than write it. Thirty minutes, whenever suits.

01 · What we noticed

The words are yours. The music is rented.

The desert is never silent.

Instagram · November 2025

Listen with your soul.

Instagram · October 2025

The rails draw a silver line through silence.

Instagram · October 2025

It is not just a performance, it is a pulse.

Instagram · February 2026

True luxury lies not in spectacle, but in listening.

Your most watched post · 560,000 views

Before stories are shared, music fills the air.

Instagram · July 2026

Your words, not ours.

What Shazam says about your reels

We held a phone up to six reels, from the launch announcement to the newest post. Every one came back as a licensed library track. Non-exclusive. Anyone can use the same music tomorrow, and nobody could hum it the day after.

1000 & One NightDaniele Musto · World: A Compilation, 2020 · your “music fills the air” reelLibrary track
KonyaFederico Ferrandina · World: A Compilation, 2020 · your route reelLibrary track
BohoSlow Nomaden · Nubohème Recordings, 2023 · your Jubbah rock-art reelLibrary track
Fata MorganaRoie Shpigler · single, 2025 · your newest reelLibrary track
CairoRoie Shpigler & Marc Kakon · single, 2025 · your Elephant Rock reelLibrary track
Eternal Shiningraspberrymusic · single, 2024 · your pre-reservations launch reelStock track

Two of the six come from a compilation called World, whose cover is a Ganesh festival in Mumbai. The reel at Elephant Rock, AlUla’s most famous landmark, is scored with a track called Cairo. The reel with the oud player on the platform, captioned “music fills the air”, is filled with 1000 & One Night. The reel that opened pre-reservations at SAR 30,000 a night runs on a stock track called Eternal Shining. Good records. Not Saudi Arabia, and not yours. The reels with the chants and the Ardah are the exception, and they are the best sound you have. No melody is attached to them yet. That is where the theme starts.

The memory
Guests leave with photographsNo sound to take home
Instagram reels
Licensed library tracks, different every timeNothing you own, nothing to hum
The official film
A cinematic scoreWhether it holds a theme is question one for the audit
Booking to boarding
Months of anticipationNothing to hear in between
The platform
Chants, coffee, an oud. The real thing, liveNo melody to carry it home
On board
We haven’t heard it yet. You may have it sortedThat’s what the audit is for

Not checked yetSound present but unowned, or mutedOwned sound absent

We are not saying the music is bad. Some of it is lovely. It just isn’t yours, it changes every week, and none of it has a melody anyone could carry home. Give the memory a voice.


02 · Who we are

WithFeeling. Sonic branding and music, for twenty years.

Headquartered in Dubai, composers across Europe. Most of our current work is in Saudi Arabia, and a good deal of it is in travel and hospitality. That’s it about us. The rest is about you.

20
Years in the region
170+
Major projects delivered
25+
International awards
Clio
Clio Music Bronze, 2026. International Sound Awards Gold, 2025

03 · The work, nearest to you

Nine places in the Kingdom we have already given a sound. And one next door.

Made with Saudi instruments and Saudi musicians. Press play. This part is meant to be heard.

Sonic identity · Ministry of Tourism Saudi Arabia

The Sound of Saudi

“Endless Discovery”, translated into sound. Duff, rabab, oud and ney, recorded with Saudi vocalists and choirs, cut into a sonic identity for a whole country. If we can give a nation a voice, we can give a train one.

Read it on withfeeling.com →
Ministry of Tourism Saudi Arabia sonic identity
Saudi Vision 2030 2 min

Original music

Saudi Vision 2030

Original music for the National Day film, with Dentsu. Chants, oud and ney over contemporary production.

Read more →
AlUla Moments 2 min

Original music

AlUla Moments

Music for the AlUla Moments campaign, aired on beIN Sports.

Read more →
Diriyah, the City of Earth 2 min

Score and sound design

Diriyah, the City of Earth

The score for the City of Earth film, with Deja Vu. Live oud as the backbone.

Read more →
Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026

Sonic identity

Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026

Converge: a loopable sonic identity for JAX District, with no beginning and no end.

Read more →
Islamic Arts Biennale 2025

Sonic identity

Islamic Arts Biennale 2025

The sonic identity of the Biennale in Jeddah. Clio Music Bronze. International Sound Awards winner.

Read more →
Awwal Bait 1 min

Sonic identity

Awwal Bait

The sound of the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale at the Hajj Terminal, with APCO. One theme, an hour of immersion, a family of sonic logos.

Read more →
City Living Museum, Madinah

Sonic identity and soundscape

City Living Museum, Madinah

A sonic identity for a museum that is a whole city. Madinah, recorded live, composed into a thirty-minute soundscape.

Read more →
Foodsphere, Riyadh Oases 2 min

Sonic identity and score

Foodsphere, Riyadh Oases

One theme, four hours of original music, a different instrument for every room.

Read more →
RAK Properties, Mina Al Arab 3 min

Sonic identity

RAK Properties, Mina Al Arab

An orchestral brand track and fourteen variations for an island destination.

Read more →
And in travel and hospitality
Ain Dubai 1 min

Sonic identity · a journey, scored

Ain Dubai

The sonic identity of the world’s largest observation wheel, with Dubai Holding Entertainment: arrival, soundscapes and a bespoke 38-minute cabin score. The closest thing we have made to a train.

Read more →
Dubai Airports 1 min

Sonic identity · travel

Dubai Airports

The sonic identity of the world’s busiest international airport, with Seven Media. Built to scale from brand films to hold lines.

Read more →
Emirates 1 min

Original music · travel

Emirates

Original music for the commercial that told the world Dubai was open again. Warmth and confidence, nothing heavy-handed.

Read more →

A museum that is a whole city. A biennale that loops without ending. A food world scored room by room. A 38-minute journey in a cabin above Dubai. A train is all of them.


04 · What we want to do

A sound of its own. Three parts, one system.

Made in Italy, inspired by Saudi soul. The music gets built the same way: Saudi instruments, Italian craft, one dialogue.

ONE

A sonic logo

Three seconds that mean Dream of the Desert with the picture off. On the film, the reels, the reservation email. And, if you want it, on the train: boarding, dinner, arrival. A motif, not a jingle, with silence designed as carefully as the marquetry. The bit people recognise a year later.

A brass wall lamp in a train suite
TWO

A theme

One melody in the idiom of the chants and the Ardah you already put on the platform. Composed, not lifted, and recorded with Saudi musicians. Then a family of cut-downs for the film, social, the lounge and the welcome. Yours, on terms agreed up front. Every clip sounds like the train. No clip sounds the same.

Ardah performers in white, from a Dream of the Desert reel
THREE

The theme, arranged for every arrival

Think of the boarding music on Emirates or Saudia, but for a place instead of a plane. Five stops, five arrivals, five departures, and each one gets its own arrangement of the theme in the instruments of that region: Najdi as you pull out of Riyadh, Hijazi as AlUla comes into view. Guests hear where they are without being told. A year later they hear the theme in an ad, and they are back at the window.

Riyadh
Al Jouf
Jubbah
AlUla
Diriyah

On the announcements, chimes and cabin sound: you may already have them sorted. If not, the same system covers them. Either way, the theme comes first.


05 · Why it matters

Three reasons.

The bar carriage of Dream of the Desert, brass and lamplight
The majlis, reimagined as a place for listening. What will they remember hearing?
One

Music is memory

Guests forget the thread count. They remember the notes as the train pulled out of Riyadh. Play them a year later and they are back at the window. One more reason to remember, and to come back.

Two

The brand travels further than the train

Most people who meet Dream of the Desert will never board it. Visuals get cropped and muted. Sound arrives intact, and it is the part they can carry.

Three

At SAR 30,000 a night, sound is the cheapest thing on board

If music already plays in the cabin, making it yours is a small line next to the marquetry, the brass and the kitchen. And it reaches every guest, every day, on every journey.


06 · How it would work

Eight to twelve weeks. Four steps.

Weeks 1 to 2

Listen

Audit everything that already makes a noise, on board and off.

Weeks 3 to 4

Define

What the train should sound like, on one page you can hold us to.

Weeks 5 to 10

Create and test

Logo, theme and journey, recorded with Saudi musicians. Tested with guests and, if you’ll have us, on the train.

Weeks 11 to 12

Roll out

Guidelines, stems, a crew brief, onboard files if wanted. Nobody goes rogue.

From you: the brand lead in the room, the film and reel audio, a day on the train.

Dream of the Desert

07 · Next step

Thirty minutes, whenever suits.

We’ll play you what the brand sounds like today, and where a melody of its own could come from. If the first part makes you wince, that’s the useful part.

Reply to Chris
said with feeling.