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review by Bill Binkelman Natural Power is a triple "p" release: purely perfect pop! By that I mean this recording is chock full of brilliant electronic pop instrumental music that begs to be played at loud volumes. It's in the same vein as Jan Hammer's Beyond the Mind's Eye album, another recording that I can play over and over and enjoy it each and every time. There is something so wonderful about hearing fantastic hooks and catchy rhythms, both of which are in abundance on Natural Power. Slip this CD into the deck of your touring sedan, head for the open road, and just feel that great sense of symmetry as you, the music, the machine, and the ribbon of highway coalesce to form a sensation unlike anything else! deep sky divers are Jon Short and David Jones, two UK musicians who have been recording music for over a decade now. In fact, the tracks on this CD were originally recorded from 1991 to 1994. Originally, Natural Power was available only on mp3.com. Just this past year (2002), after Jon Short remastered the tracks, it was released on the duo's anyrobinhood label with two tracks deleted and two new ones added. All I can say is "Thank you, Jon!" The album opens with the short (sub two-minutes) "Eternia," an explosive shot of electro-adrenaline with synthesizers soaring and swooping across the soundfield, accompanied by thundering tom toms and wall-of-sound keyboards. It's probably one of the most powerful opening tracks I've heard in years. Next, the title cut slides the music into the relaxed groove where most of the songs will settle. Midtempo percolating sampled percussion in a myriad of styles (from trap set drums to cow bell to scratch beats), assorted keyboards, and echoed digital piano, all of it polished to a glossy sheen of perfect engineering (headphones will reveal an extraordinary mix, with panning effects galore and instruments located in distinct locations in the soundfield). "Ivory Coast" has a loping tempo, panpipe sampled keys, whistling synth lead lines, and an infectious grin-inducing sound (this track might remind you, as it did me, of David Antony Clark's CD, Before Africa). Almost every track here has something to offer lovers of catchy instrumental electronic pop music, whether your taste runs toward the slow and sensuous rhythms of "Where Only Seabirds Roam," the grey-clouds-in-the-afternoon soft jazz of "Change in the Weather," the out-and-out funkiness of "Stride for Stride" (way cool electric piano and sampled bongos), or the mystery and dramatic power of "Timeloch" (at eight minutes, the longest track on the album). And, for those of you who are already familiar with deep sky divers, Natural Power marked the first appearance of their "anthem," the amazing "Raging Calm" (in my opinion, one of the best new age pop instrumentals of the nineties, bar none). Admittedly, I didn't enjoy everything on the album with equal enthusiasm. "Inner Space (Tranquility)" and "Inner Space (Hostility)" just don't click with me much, although there's nothing wrong with either one. They're less catchy than the other tracks here, and the latter has a march-like cadence on the snares, as well as a slight over-the-top exultant nature to the music itself. However, given that there are fifteen songs on this CD, I'm not going to quibble. So many of the cuts on Natural Power kick major amounts of ass that I can certainly live with one or two weak entries. The album closes with a new remix of the title track (the "primitive power source" mix) and it's a fitting ending to a recording that I enjoyed so much that I'd wager I played it twenty times before writing this review. If you're into toe-tapping, catchy, and extremely accessible instrumental music, played on electronic keyboards and digital piano which crisscrosses between the boundaries of new age, smooth jazz, pop, and adult contemporary genres with the ease of a glider carried on a thermal, Natural Power is going to earn a spot in your CD player's rotation and hold onto it for a long time. Highly recommended. |
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