| Artist: David Arkenstone Album: Ambient World Released: 8 February 2011 |   |
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Taking one's self out of the compositional process is truly the way to realize Ambient Music. Fortunately for Spacemusic fans David Arkenstone did not follow this edict on his CD Ambient World. A creative constant in the field of New Age and Contemporary Instrumental, Arkenstone here focuses his ample talents on a decidedly more textural, atmospheric and cerebral style. Rather than continually trying to keep up with the public's imagination, this work offers such traditional musical values as beauty and order. Using bold simplified forms to infuse his music with dramatic monumentality, Arkenstone captures moments of solitude as he achieves an understated sonic poetry. With its mesmerizing swirl of pulsing synthesizers, whooshing keys and twanging guitar Ambient World possesses an impressive sonic sheen, yet it feels pared down to essentials. From robot riffs and electro-thrum to the dreamy inwardness of private reverie, the listener wades through an ever-changing musical current. Arkenstone finds emotional resonance in sounds from a more subtle palate - using them to create a spacey atmosphere that is refreshing. But underneath all the blissed out textures is a friendly, pleasant consonance and a practiced sense of composition. The resulting album offers us a mystical bridge between our world and the greater cosmos - as its music, or at least a redeeming impression, will linger on in the listener's mind.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 7 April 2011 | |
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