Browsing Tag

composer

Nizar Bredan starts a ‘Journey’ with his latest neo-classic composition.

Posted on 21 June 2021

Libya-born, Brussels-based self-taught neoclassical composer and pianist Nizar Breden has released his latest composition, Journey; through the gentle melodic crescendos, Bredan’s diverse cultural heritage emerges through the delicate score that is provoking and profound in equal measure.

By switching between dramatic, uplifting and tentative cadences, Journey is a score that will leave you hooked by its multifaceted nature, expressive textures, and Bredan’s ability to melodically flit between melancholy and an almost Machiavellian style of playfulness.

After finding influence in the wandering tones of Chopin, the circulating melodies of Tiersen and the evocative works Ólafur Arnalds, Ludovico Einaudi and Nils Frahm, Bredan discernibly found his signature style that will easily enamour any fans of the aforementioned.

Journey is the first of the singles to come from his new series of original compositions; the rest are due to follow throughout 2021 and 2022.

Journey is now available to stream via Spotify.

Billy Moffat has released his symphonic masterpiece, Through the Eyes of God, featuring Davie Brockett.

Posted on 19 June 2021

Scottish-born composer Billy Moffat brought plenty of his experience touring the globe with the show, One Night of Queen, to his latest release, Through the Eyes of God, featuring Davie Brockett on guitar.

Starting with dramatic neo-classic keys, there are no hints in the production to warn that the stunning crescendos will soon give way to over-driven scuzzed-up guitar solos that easily match the furore in an Apocalyptica track. Davie Brockett’s searing solos blazon the professional instrumental score with even more virtuosic stripes.

Though the Eyes of God is, quite literally, a jaw-droppingly symphonic masterpiece that will easily leave you ensnared by the sheer nuance and Moffat’s ability to compose a score that will put your rhythmic pulses under instant command.

The orchestral release is now available to stream via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia

Rachael Philip pays ode to continuity in ‘Relics in the Ice’

Posted on 18 June 2021
Rachael Philip

Manchester-based self-taught musician and composer Rachael Philip has taken a break from composing for film to release her debut album, Wax Ephemeral. The influences for the standout single, Relics in the Ice, came through the artist’s intense interest in science and spirituality. You will hear the latter laden in the minimalist, accordant progressions.

Hitting play on the dreamy instrumental landscape, complemented by birdsong, is a sure-fire way to get a potent hit of catharsis. The climbing progressions may be gentle, but Relics in the Ice is as transcendent as electroacoustic ambient neo-classic work gets.

In her own words,

“The album is a tribute to the continuous cycle of life, beauty in death, and regeneration into new forms from microcosmic to macrocosmic view, of a diverse but interconnected network of beings and organisms.”

Relics in the Ice is due for release on July 2nd. In the meantime, you can check out the composer’s other equally as mesmeric scores via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Has It Fallen Apart: London-based pianist Evelyn Bates is simply superlative on ‘I Used to Have Dreams’

Posted on 1 June 2021

Taken off her upcoming debut EP called ‘I Want You To Know‘, which was first created after taking a brisk walk in Moscow to conquer a moment she needed to deal with from her past, Evelyn Bates is absolutely brilliant on her lead single that will have you lighting the candles on ‘I Used to Have Dreams‘.

Evelyn Bates is a highly professional and award-winning classically trained pianist, composer, actress, piano/vocal coach and indie pop singer. She forms that classy soundtrack that dazzles your mind and takes you to a calming place – to get your thoughts together from this confusing world – that can easily lead you astray.

”She was born into a family of musicians and composers. Evelyn started studying piano in the tradition of the Russian piano school and singing at an early age and was accepted at a classical music school at the age of 6. She continued her studies and later started her degree at the renowned Gnesin Academy of Music, Moscow.” – Evelyn Bates

‘I Used to Have Dreams‘ from the mightily skillful yet elegantly humble London-based, Moscow-born pianist/composer/actress and singer Evelyn Bates, shows us into a mindset that has evolved through time and life experiences. She knows what is is important now and although she feels like she has lost some dreams to the night and has seen them fall apart into pieces, this stunning piece of music art has also helped her to see the bigger picture. That growing self-awareness is what makes her such a superb musician, and this wonderful song is surely the start of something special.

”Writing this EP was like therapy, where I needed to simplify things to see them more clearly in order to reflect on that.” – Evelyn Bates

Hear this new and calming effort on Spotify and see her IG page for more info.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

That Peaceful Time: Danny Vye carefully brings us ‘The Sound of Spring’

Posted on 20 May 2021

Danny Vye is back with a mellow soundtrack to bring peace where there is so much sadness on ‘The Sound of Spring‘.

Danny Vye is a talented Vietnamese-born, London, England-based programmer, pop songwriter and instrumental music composer. He makes those chilled likable sounds of yesteryear, which has your body suddenly feeling so relaxed inside the deepest part of your soul.

This is the story of bringing in only good energy – away from the bad – as he plays with such ability that has you smiling softly to yourself. You feel his emotions wrapped into the piano, as piece by piece he shows us into his tranquil state of mind, which has so much love entrenched inside each note.

‘The Sound of Spring‘ from the multi-skilled Vietnamese-born British songwriter and instrumental music composer, Danny Vye, takes you to a new place that feels so right and calm. His music perfectly illustrate what the world should be like, away from all the noise and hustle and bustle, replaced with so much love. Just the way it should be. Peace shall prevail.

Stream here for the YouTube audio and see more on his FB music page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

PRISONER K Part 2: Berlin’s CALMDOWN cuts away the restrictions on ‘Blind’ (ft. Thëar)

Posted on 15 May 2021

Bringing us the second part of this immaculate series of music experiences that has been sumptuously created with so much love and representing metamorphosis, CALMDOWN takes our imagination to another level beyond what we thought was possible with her arms open wide on ‘Blind‘ (ft. Thëar).

Elisa Vidalis aka CALMDOWN, is a highly motivated and creative composer and electronic music producer from Berlin in Germany. She cleverly meshes her sound to captivate our ears and takes us to another place entirely with deep meaning aplenty, for us to fully wrap headfirst into.

”Through music you feel a moment that you already lived in the past, or a moment you will live in the future or a moment you will never have at all. It travels with you and saves you.” – CALMDOWN

This is the story of keeping your mind open so you can help others when they have their blinkers stuck on and are so stuck. The world can be smoggy and full of temptations that you don’t really need, and you need someone close you help you into the right path, before you get sucked in for too long.

The beat is terrific and the video is so smartly done, as it captures the mood of the world so perfectly. You find yourself fascinated by the message and the visuals have you entrenched into the moment — as each second finds you looking closer — and wondering what is going to take place next.

‘Blind‘ (ft. Thëar) from Berlin music producer CALMDOWN, is a striking song that has a soundtrack that has you soaked in goodness, with elite vocals that sends you into a whole new world. This is one of the purest songs you will immerse yourself in all year — and a real lesson in being careful with what you dream about — as it can turn real so quickly.

See this terrific music video on YouTube and see more of her journey via IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

 

Jeff Goldsmith – ambient, narrative sounds with ‘Waiting Window’

Posted on 7 May 2021

Jeff Goldsmith is a composer, sound engineer, and producer based out of Minneapolis; ‘Waiting Window’ the first track from his forthcoming album ‘May You Find The Light Before The Devil Knows He’s Right’ – composed and recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic – is a dark, brooding, piece, semi-neo-classical, semi-industrial, and mainly instrumental. All based around field recordings and live samples from Minneapolis, it’s a mix of the avant-garde, elements of alt-rock mixing with a repeating piano motif, sampled ambient noises, and speech, all building slowly throughout the five-and-a-half minutes of the track. At times sounding like Phillip Glass or Mike Oldfield, others with dashes of the softer parts of Nine Inch Nails or Ministry, switching still to the Orb or Ozric Tentacles. It’s an entrancing, evocative mix of alternative, dark ambient, and auditory narrative soundscape.

You can catch the video for ‘Waiting Window’ on YouTube; find out more about Jeff Goldsmith and his work here.

Review by Alex Holmes

Jero Rest has released his intoxicatingly arcane art-pop ballad, ‘Heart’

Posted on 4 May 2021

If you always look for poetry within lyricism, you’ll find the Shakespeare of our generation listening to Jero Rest’s latest single, Heart, which officially released on January 15th.

With powerfully meta lyrics running in perfect canter with the ambient neo-classic keys, the singer, composer, instrumentalist and producer orchestrated a stunning ballad that could rival the works of Emilie Autumn, Sophe Lux and Evelyn Evelyn.

The absorbingly arcane release is the ultimate testament to Jero Rest’s distinctive style which organically manifests through taking influence from everyone from Hans Zimmer to Rhapsody of Fire to Black Sabbath to Phil Collins.

You can check out the official video for Heart for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alex Bright defies convention with his symphonically visceral electronica album ‘Building’.

Posted on 24 April 2021
Alex Bright

Bristol-based artist and producer Alex Bright is set to release his album, Building, which obliterates the notion of genre and introduces the lister to pure uninhibited electronically-crafted expression.

From neo-classic increments to symphonically cinematic scores complemented with pulsing bass to experimentation with elements of nature; you will find it all on the absorbing 7-track release. Alex Bright isn’t afraid to paint across the tonal spectrum, mischievously throwing together light and dark textures to create stunning sense of utopic/dystopic duality.

With such scarcity of reminiscence,  eclecticism of style and veracity of emotion, Alex Bright’s sound expresses what words cannot, making my job impossibly hard but gratifying all the same. Discovering exceptional producers who defy convention and can still speak to you on a primal level don’t crop up every day.

You can check out Alex Bright on his YouTube Channel and by heading over to Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Square go for baroque in their theatric prog-punk rock single The World is Square.

Posted on 23 April 2021

With more funk and insanity than Mr Bungle’s debut album and a touch of baroque eccentricity writhing in the electrifying mix, Square’s chaotically enthralling Avant-Garde Rock track ‘The World is Square’ is a wild ride right from the intro.

The trio of three Canadian composers who are all accoladed in the contemporary scene made their debut in 2017. James Maxwell, Edward Top and Alfredo Santa Ana combined their eccentric visions, experimented with complex time signatures and allowed alchemy to crawl from the progressions that are as pleasantly disturbing as The Residents’. With Vancouver’s indie legend, Nathan Dillon’s, talent at their disposal, their powerful tracks that are unapologetically not everyone’s cup of tea hit with maximum artful impact.

It’s hard not to be drawn into Square’s experimentalism when they introduce listener’s to their sound with the following descriptor.

‘Multicultural, overeducated, and ironically trying to justify art-making in our current (dis)information age, Square asks a unique musical question: what happens when you know all the rules, and where all the roads in life lead, and somehow still get lost?’

For the full Square experience, you’ll want to check out the official music video which premiered on March 29th via YouTube. 

You can check out the full EP from Square via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast