Spiritually, winter is a time when we are called upon to conserve our energy, withdraw and reflect on the year spent, to begin to plan for the year to come. It is also considered a time when the Angels are closest to the earth, and bestow special blessings during this time of reflection.
With From The Darker Seasons, solo guitarist Jeff Pearce has, in his signature style, captured the essence of this time when the earth is drawing in and the light is slowing ebbing until the time of the Solstice, when rebirth begins to occur once again.
But before the time of winter, autumn must first allow the trees to shed their leaves in preparation, bringing a rare beauty to the earth with the magical colours of browns, russet reds, orange and the subtle shades of a hint of the green left from the shade of the summer. A Walk Through The Leaves has captured this beautifully, with the following track, The Sun on Frost bringing with it a sharp reminder of the winter to come. Frost is a magical element, there early in the morning and then gone once the sun begins to rise and slowly warm the day; ephemeral in its beauty. Such is the pleasure of creating and listening to music.
Jeff Pearce has captured perfectly the deep stillness and clarity of the atmosphere after a snow fall, the crispness of the white snow, and the almost complete stillness of the world as it slowly begins to settle, to slow for the long days of the winter to come in Downdrift, giving this piece an almost otherworldly sound with the addition some clever electronic work. Midnight Snow completes this segment.
His love of seasons, especially winter, have been woven into this delightful six track soundscape, which gently shifts and changes, to represent his enjoyment of the autumn and winter periods of the Northern hemisphere, where the days of autumn, are all too quickly over and the long, often apparently endless months of winter, pass slowly.
As a master of electronic guitar, Pearce has used his skills to discover the hidden and not so hidden beauty tucked away in snow drifts, the colour of autumn leaves and the incredible clarity of the sky on a crisp autumn or winters night. He has woven them into an ambient and delightfully intricate reflection, as required by the Divine, as the days draw ever closer to a time of renewal.
