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review by Dene Bebbington After another two/three year gap between albums, independent new age musician Richard Amos offers us his third album Breathe. In a review of his debut album Tears and Joy I commented that I'd like him to further explore ambient/spacemusic themes. Well, he's done just that on this latest offering; in a sense it's a refinement on the previous two albums, but with the addition of some vocals tracks. The album is Richard's longest yet with fifteen tracks, of which the last two are a remix of a prior track and an instrumental version of one of the vocal tracks. There's a variety of moods throughout the album, ranging from sadness and introspection to outright happiness. The way those moods are delivered gives the album a personal aura, something it has in common with his first two albums. Imagine walking to the brow of a hill to have vista of a lush green landscape and a big open sky - perhaps with lovely hues of colour on scattered clouds as the sun starts to go down. That's what went through my mind on playing the first track "Open Sky" where airy synth chords sail on by and waves of glistening and vaguely vocal sound hail a welcoming aural panorama. In the second track "Dreamer" the mood goes straight into joyousness. Reminiscent of the upbeat tracks on Dancing in the Desert, but sounding more modern and polished, this piece gets your foot tapping with bouncy and happy rhythms and melodies. Initially pensive then thoughtful synths gets the third (and shortest at two minutes) track "Reflect" underway. A piano plays out a reflective melody, solo in parts and sometimes with almost vocal sounding synth pads. My two favourite tracks are quite disparate in style. In "Float Away" we are treated to floating/drifting ambience as layers of gaseous chords serenely glide around like different types of clouds. In contrast, "End of the Tunnel" begins with piano notes musing and sounding echoey like it's being played in a big empty room a corridor away. This doesn't last for long though, an intense synth pop tune soon strikes up with an infectious rhythm and swarming synths. Later on the piano comes in again for a quiet interlude prior to the piece continuing on in a lively fashion. There's no denying that Richard has improved his sound on Breathe, though the vocal tracks are really not my cup of tea (they became a little grating after a while) they can easily be skipped. The album hangs together well considering the variety of emotions in spans, and so it gets my recommendation. |
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