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review by Dene Bebbington Because of its subtitle "Original music for your plants flowers shrubs and you" I was dubious about this album when it was first brought to my attention. It didn't come across as being the sort of thing that I, or readers of Wind & Wire, would be interested in. Happily, I soon found out that Shashana and Rolando Antonelli (aka Free-Life) have created some very pleasing, and occasionally exquisite, music to be appreciated whether or not one is interested in healing issues or the nurturing of plants, flowers, and shrubs. Ostensibly it's a New Age album, yet it exhibits a range of styles also including smooth Jazz, ambient, and adult contemporary. The music on Garden Music is based around keyboards, synths, guitar, and cello. Several tracks are reminiscent of Secret Garden (though with a less Celtic feel) and in the more lively and rhythmic tracks one may notice the use of Pat Metheny style guitar. Some musicians have a knack of creating music with an organic quality, this is something Free-Life do very well on early tracks like "Black Orchid" and "Le Jardin de Musique". Here the sounds, especially of the cello, easily make one think of the world of plants and flowers which are life of a totally different kind to people and animals. I was struck how the music is how one might imagine the world of plants to inherently sound if they made a noise growing, extending their root tendrils, or opening their flowers. As the album progresses the music generally moves away from the organic level to become more rhythmic and upbeat, though we also hear a few ambient synth based pieces - like "Ode to the Flowers and Plants" where a reverbing synth delivers a reverential ode as gentle wave like sounds lap across the soundscape. Musically this is a good album, so it's a shame that the production quality isn't up to the same standard. One thing I noticed is that a high recording level appears to have been set, to the point that there is noticeable distortion in a few tracks. Anyway, it's said that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and Garden Music demonstrates that the same can also be said for CDs. Shashana and Rolando have created a very pleasing album that can perk humans up, and may well do the same for plants and flowers! |
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