Showing posts with label Barbara Hills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barbara Hills. Show all posts

Instrumental Ambient/New Age/Classical Review: Barbara Hills-The Flowers Suite

Release Date: August 1, 2018
Label: House in the Wood Productions


Barbara Hills likes to refer to her music as “painting sound.”  Interesting enough is the fact that she does paint, and flowers are her specialty. One of the examples is the cover of her latest release The Flowers Suite. What you find out after hearing her music is how these two things can go hand in hand.


I also have referred many times over the years to music as taking a blank canvas a filling it with colors, feelings, atmospheres, and life. In the same thought process, any listener can then do the same while and paint their own canvas in their mind. I always have been able to create some kind of running story or images listening to moving instrumental music. With The Flowers Suite I found that ability to do so quite easily, it was a natural transition. She also takes sounds of nature and her surroundings and blends it with her music to get a wonderful result.

What I appreciated the most about The Flowers Suite was how eclectic it was. All twelve tracks have their own personality, a different painting if you will from the multi-talented artist. The most moving songs for me were “Sweet William,” it captured my imagination and stirred my spirit, then “Hedgerow Walk” really got my attention. The “Hedgerow Walk” is an entertaining 16 minutes of progressive ambient instrumental music. Granted 16 minutes is a long run for any track however if it is done properly it can mesmerize the listener. In the case of this particular a musical stretching of thoughts and forms, it most certainly sounded like music being painted into your consciousness.  I think the end result is quite amazing. It is a great example of an artist using all of the talents and instrumentations at her disposal to create something special and memorable for the instrumental music fan. 

If you happen to fancy ambient music with some changing scenery this will be a real pleasure. It is all done with a new age flair and a solid foundation of classical to hold it all together. It is an omnibus of sounds and colors conjoining to make a beautiful painting.

The Flowers Suite is a triumph of sound and art for Barbara Hills. I am certain that any instrumental music fan can find appreciation somewhere amongst the bounty of sounds that this talented lady provides. I think this recording could serve as soundtrack music for the film industry or for an individual searching to create their own soundtrack or painting in the mind's eye. I highly recommend giving this album a thorough listen as there is so much just waiting for you to discover!

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck
August 30, 2018

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Review Provided By New Age Music Reviews

Tracks: 
01. Love-In-A-Mist
02. Among Lilies
03. Through Iris Halls
04. The First Snowdrop   
05. When Cherry Blossoms Fall
06. On Hawkweed Bank
07. Sweet William   
08. Forget-Me-Nots
09. Creeping Buttercup
10. Where Heather Grows
11. Hedgerow Walk
12. Canyons Of The Black Tulip

 

Instrumental New Age/Classical Review: Barbara Hills-Moon and Shadows

Release Date: October 19, 2014
Label: House in the Wood Productions
Website


Barbara Hills has always been influenced by music. Devoted to her chosen path, this artist and composer sold paintings to pay for her guitar. Barbara has been an educator and has founded her own studio House in the Woods Productions. Barbara’s Welsh heritage influences her work and it often shows in Celtic undertones and a focus on nature and the environment. The photographs on the cover of the album are all locations around the artist’s home, sharing with us the love of nature and all of her glory. Moon and Shadows was arranged, recorded, engineered and produced by Barbara Hills.

Moon and Shadows is a journey of sorts that takes you over fields, deserts, moon covered skies and babbling brooks. Sea and space, woods and the flutter of butterflies can be found-but so can quirky pieces like “Hidden Depths” and “Landfill Tango.”

An ethereal piece filled with woodwind instruments and tender piano sequences, “Moon on the Moat” evokes a dark fairy tale in the making. Mist rises from the ground and you walk out on the veranda to meet a figure as he rises from the fog. The moon peeks through the cloudy sky and a shiver of trepidation slides through you. One dance. One night. One breath of passion. Where will it lead as the music only the two of you can hear takes you away? This piece is seductive and projects a midnight landscape rife with possibilities. Electronic elements are woven in further adding to the layers of mysticism and wonder as the dance goes on, winding into the night…

“Indigo” is the last piece on the first CD in this collection. Pensive, the song begins with a synthetic floating sound, quickly morphing into magical chimes, a plodding rhythm dotted with percussive elements and melodic voices. Starry skies filled with nature’s wonderment cascade around the listener until the very last portion of the song when it erupts in a vivacious blend of instrumentation as vivid as a painting.

“Dark and Sleepy Forest” is on the second part of this two CD set. Leaves crunch and percussive elements pound as you try to get away from whatever it is that stalks you in the night. Floating electronica music wafts through, reminding me somewhat of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. More leaves crackle and blend with dark synth and multi-instrumentation to craft a trip down nature’s shadowy realm. Enter if you dare for you do not walk alone.

Barbara Hills is an artist and sound engineer who has crafted an album devoted to nature. She was inspired by locales near her home, creating an audible landscape of earth, sea and sky. This album was an enjoyable experience with ethereal pieces like “Moon on the Moat” and quirky little numbers like the heavily electronica based “Landfill Tango” and “Hidden Depths.”

4/5 Stars

Key Tracks: Moon on the Moat, Dark and Sleepy Forest, Indigo


Tracks:
01. Desert: Midnight Ride
02. High Pines
03. Hidden Depths
04. Landfill Tango
05. Galaxies
06. Moon on the Moat
07. Deer at the Brook
08. Winter River
09. Woods After Rain
10. Pebbles
11. Field of Clouds
12. Indigo
13. Walk to the Fallow Meadow
14. Caverns
15. Kingdom of the Swan
16. Suburban Dawn
17. In the Shadows of Roasting Spring
18. Dark and Sleepy Forest
19. Snowflakes
20. Sea: Sunrise
21. Northern Lights
22. Leaving Orbit
23. Return of the Butterflies
24. Rain On the Road



Dana Wright, Sr. Staff Writer
October 4, 2015
Review Provided By New Age Music Reviews