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Review by Bill Binkelman Andy Rogers, the man behind eventide blue, is a keyboard player who reminds me of the duo, deep sky divers. That comment is not to infer that he is derivative or imitative in the least. It's meant as a compliment, in that the music on twilight atlantic crosses easily back and forth over the boundaries that separate new age music from adult contemporary and even electronica/chill-out, displaying the artist's talent for navigating disparate genres yet retaining a signature sound. twilight atlantic showcases solo piano with sparse string accompaniment on "snowblind beach," then migrates into a slowly building track, "ocean poetry," which opens with twinkling bells and synth washes set against a chill-out rhythm. After awhile, the song shifts gears and folds in a repeating melodic phrase on the bells which will serve as a "leit motif" for the remainder of this track and will also be heard later on the album. The cut becomes more powerful as it unfolds, assuming an almost celebratory air, and when the more overt electronic percussion enters the cut, in its full regalia, it all comes to a head in a blaze of crescendo glory - quite a musical moment, that! However, Rogers has more sides to his musical personality to show the listener. Hence, the brief dissonant beginning to "winter surf" (impossible to describe literally) shatters in a twinkling mirror of synths and crashing percussion, settling into a nicely executed song that fuses electronica with a sense of neo-classical drama. The cascades of synth bell tones are balanced by frenetic beats and an underlying (yet forceful) evocation of movement at great speed. "violet indigo" revisits the repeated musical refrain from "ocean poetry" but this time played on high-pitched synth bells, counterpointed by distant sonar-like electronic textures that reverberate. Maybe it's intentional, maybe not, but the exact sound of the background electronics seem a little "fuzzy" and I wonder if mastering didn't miss this and it's a slight misstep, or perhaps the slightly "out of focus" nature is intended to impart something I'm not getting. "first sight" is another slowly building track that again mirrors deep sky divers in how it melds new age synthesizers with chill-out and adult contemporary sensibilities (basically, what I mean is that the artist is giving new age music tonalities and instrumentation the appeal and accessibility of chill-out through the addition of beats and melodic refrains). When the timpani come rolling in at the halfway point, the artist again shows he is unafraid of dialing in the drama, but he handles it deftly and never slides into full-blown melodrama. Even greater "power" is in evidence on "light and motion" a song that mixes chill-out and some other overt EM elements with a lead melody line on piano and some male (and later, female) chorale samples. This song builds and builds, as Rogers layers on more and more keyboards, until the proverbial wall of sound is present, again driven by a palpable sensation of movement. The album closes somewhat as it began, with a solo piano and orchestral strings on "atlantean" however this time, rather than staying somewhat low key, the song (like others on the CD) escalates in power and force until it assumes a near symphonic crescendo-like conclusion. Unlike deep sky divers (Jon Short and David Jones), Andy Rogers seems more influenced by classical music, yet I still hold that the comparison is valid owing to both artists' abilities to fuse multiple genres in cohesive ways and also to be adept at assorted contemporary music elements. However, in retrospect, owing to the more classical style of composing (less "pop" oriented than deep sky divers, such as on their album Natural Power), I suppose you could also categorize him as "Yanni with chill-out chops" or Vangelis with less bombast. Regardless of who you compare him with, Rogers knows how to make some great music. While twilight atlantic isn't perfect, its flaws are minor and some of the tracks here are damn near irresistible ("ocean poetry," and "winter surf"). On the strength of those two songs alone, I solidly recommend the CD. |
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