| Artist: Craig Padilla Album: The Light in the Shadow Released: November 2006 |  |
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Utilizing large forms and expansive tonalities Craig Padilla realizes music to enhance sleep rather than induce it. The Light in the Shadow (63'32") combines the grand scale of America's western spaces with the precision of the Teutonic school. This continuous long-form piece, clearly a follow-up to 2002's Vostok, begins carefully within a gently broken silence. Lulled by an otherworldly calmness, the listener drifts along on multi-layered harmonic currents. Padilla extends the long line by filling the soundfield with beautiful synthesizer tones and a slowly building ethereal energy. The churning, shimmering sounds flow together into a sweeping resonant unity, then fade away - displaced by a new and equally ingenious airy modulation. Throughout the growing density of sound, Padilla conceals a slow sequencer pattern. The rhythm becomes noticeable as it gains volume, more defined as notes are added, and appealingly syncopated as echo is administered. By about 3/4 of the way through, the meandering pulse has become a force - drawing the listener above the shifting timbral expanse. Padilla, the sonic wizard, creates worlds out of sound; cosmically complex yet microscopically intricate. The listener need not feel transported to an unreachable spiritual world - they're already in their own.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 8 February 2007 | |
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