Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: imaginary

  • The Gathering IV

    The Gathering IV

    In 2012 the first Gathering album was released to massive acclaim, winning the coveted ZMR Album of the Year. Two years on, Will Ackerman and Tom Eaton of Imaginary Road Studios choose another twenty-one artists to create The Gathering II (2014). The Gathering III followed in 2017, once again to great acclaim. The latest release The Gathering IV, (2019) consists of seventeen remarkable artists, with seventeen perfect pieces produced at the Imaginary Roads Studios over the past two years, now released to delight the ear and the soul.

    This album is immensely beautiful; a lovely, intimately mellow ambience paramount in all the pieces that have been selected, crafting the impression that this one artist, one emotional collection, one perspective, such is the quality of the recording.

    Lining up on this work are Masako, Jim Gabriel, Louis Colaiannia, Lawrence Blatt, Kathryn Kaye, Marika Takeuchi, Neil Tatar, Gina Lenee, Kelly Andrews, FLOW, Heidi Osgood-Metcalf, Vin Downes, Brenda Warren, Anne Sweeten, Matteo Palmer, Gary Schmidt and Richard Carr which, just by looking at the line-up of talent, is a sure indicator of what a treat is wrapped in the cover of this new release. Each of the pieces selected and the featured artists are award winners.

    Many of the artist will be well known to Ambient music buffs, others perhaps not so well known, but regardless of your background knowledge, this is one incredibly beautiful collection that simply is right there in the moment, perfect for just about everything from background music, to easy listening, or simply just dreaming the time away. Perfection.

    Will Ackerman and Tom Eaton, both stellar musicians in their own right, have over the many years with Wyndham Hill Records and Imaginary Roads Studio’s achieved almost ‘God like’ status within the world of New Aged Ambient music, which when work the standard of The Gathering IV is compiled as a sample of their talent and ability, is very easy to understand.

    A perfect album of perfect music, from a new generation of music makers, which is simply divine and will become, amongst the many favourite works reviewed over the past years, a collection to be enjoyed over and over again.

  • Imaginary Flights

    Imaginary Flights

    Giuseppe Dio has created beautiful album of electronic, relaxation meditation collections with a lovely gentle, almost ethereal touch that is both intriguing and enchanting, showcasing the many facets of diversification created in the world of electronic music.

    With this latest album Imaginary Flights, the driving emotion was to create music that allowed the mind to simply float; free to move in whatever direction the sound scape offered and once calmed, to return to the real world refreshed and relaxed.

    Under the Stars is a relaxing, tranquil piece to begin a journey of magnitude, traveling far and wide, wherever you will, allowing not just the mind but the emotions to create unique, personal landscapes of free-flowing scope and beauty.

    The fifteen tracks that make up the album, while all holding a common thread, relate to and are influence by, something from nature such as in the lovely piece The Woodland, introduced with the sounds of birdlife, recreating that perfect tranquillity to be discovered and enjoyed when walking through majestic trees. Spacey, ethereal and very enjoyable.

    New Worlds has an electronic, almost chant like benediction in the construction, followed by the clear notes of electronic keyboard to change the pace to a busier almost frenetic pace, before relaxing into a deeper, more gentle tone. An interesting composition.

    Capturing the eerie depths of the deep ocean is Undersea, a mysterious and beautiful piece which perfectly captures that element of the unknown felt and experienced by divers who go down into the darkest regions of the ocean, into caves filled with the unknown, captivatingly peaceful and hypnotic.

    Lying on Clouds has a wow factor to it that fascinates with an interesting mix of sounds, teasing the mind as to what is transpiring. The expectation is that this will be a gentle and almost languid piece. In some aspects it is but there is also a thread that is spacey: transitionary with what can be heard, atmospheric voices softly wending through the music.

    Wind sounds sweeping through the electronic landscape introduces a rich panoramic sound to conclude what is a most enjoyable journey through time, space and place with Towards The Light, a most pleasurable way to return from a journey of peace, relaxation and meditation.

    Not an album to be used at any time, when it is the right time the music will offer what it was created to achieve, healing, peace, relaxation and refreshment of the body, mind and soul.