The music is divinely delicate, but also quietly commandeering, and this strength is piercingly notable throughout the likes of highlights Plaza and Misterioso. There’s also a profoundly all-consuming depth of sound to the healing frequency and power of Cavern – an intoxicating closing track, confirming the essential power of music in temporarily freeing us from the jagged edges of modern life.
Composer
Award-winning composer, pianist and soundtrack creator Javier Rodriguez has built up an unrivalled repertoire over time, creating renowned music and projects for TV, media campaigns, brands and institutions across the globe.
Where much of modern music feels the need to fill every moment with sound and noise and something attention grabbing, this project offers creativity and sound the time and space to breathe, and in doing so, offers its audience the same kind of serenity and intrigue.
Blending world music tones amidst both electronic and organic musicianship, The Baal Shem Tov Nigun is another highlight from the extensive Ari Fraser catalogue, and holds true to a catchy and inclusive groove, loaded with vocal harmonies and a vast sense of calm and contemplation that naturally lights up the space.
The mildness of this composition is impressive, given how all-consuming the layers and music turn out to be. When listened to at volume, the intricacy of the sound, and indeed, its contrasting depth, work their magic to a profound degree, and the topical implication united amidst that adds a whole other layer of emotional conviction.
Memory of Xinjiang is a sensational original composition, and draws focus to the modernization of Chinese music in recent years, and the embracing of technology alongside traditional instrumental formats, to create wholly compelling, incomparable new soundscapes.
Irish composer and producer Gavin Murphy, known for his contributions to releases from David Gray, Van Morison, and plenty more, presents this summer a deeply introspective instrumental project of his own.
Featuring an organic piano performance and accompanying string section, with a live performance video to match, the arrangement slowly evolves to become more and more impassioned and bold, reflecting upon the concept and image of a flower that thrives regardless of how tumultuous its surroundings may be.
Find something unique and bring your creativity, passion and character into the process. An ambient artistic production, blending healing frequencies, subtle white noise and space, with delicate expressions on the harp.
Bristol-based composer and musician The Celtic Harper explores ‘the quiet power of vulnerability’, with the increasing warmth and wonder of Innocence.
Funky guitar rock, a strong groove and an upbeat jazz rhythm – globally renowned bass player Derek Frank paints a colourful audio tapestry, with the organic instrumental layers of Barker’s Boogie.
Guitarist and composer Hear The Colors – an artist with a defiantly unique approach to crafting audio soundscapes and other-worldly ventures that consume audiences – delivers a profound and powerful instrumental album this year, with the magnetic and mighty Rebirth.
Self-defined as a sort of musical anagram, the parts of this project have been deconstructed and reshuffled, presenting a new kind of puzzle but also not overly unsettling the listener in the process. Quite the opposite, in fact – the music is welcoming, ethereal but deeply genuine, and delicate enough to grant listeners the space and time to really find their own sense of meaning and stillness within it.