Instrumental New Age Review: Richard Theisen-Mayan Stars

Release Date: 2014

Label: Indie

Website

Richard Theisen is a Grammy award winning composer and performer. His new release Mayan Stars was inspired by the lost civilization of the Maya. The tracks presented on this release

are a smooth blend of new age, classical and world. It’s an enticing musical stew of instrumental pleasures.

Each track is like a brush that paints all the notes on a broad musical canvas. Within each song are stories that unfolds and words are not necessary. Theisen knows how to shape the music into a creation that is a reflection of each title.

What I found most impressive is the range of music on display and the number of instruments played by the artist. With the exception of a solo guitar on “Blood Moon” he does it all on Mayan Stars. The title track drops the curtain appropriately ushering in the age of a people long since passed. The wonder we still hold for that highly advanced civilization is present to this day. The track is as majestic as their legacy. When “Jungle Zen” starts you know that it’s going to be an adventure…a musical tapestry that unfolds before your senses and leaves you tingling and excited to explore more. Perhaps it is time to go on your own private adventure and let the music lead the way? This music has the ability to take you there in a matter of minutes.

The music all seems to fall together so nicely and each track has a different feel and overall atmosphere of intrigue and beauty. Whether it’s a simply placed acoustic guitar or building layers of keyboards the music invites a sense of wonder that is within us all. 

“The Red Queen” is so perfectly picturesque I found it easy to see the Maya in their ancient world in my mind’s eye. While all of the music is developing and enveloping my soul I was at peace and one with it all. I can see this entire album being a soundtrack to a special on a History Channel program or used for relaxation and or meditation as well. This music heals and allows the portal of your soul open to the exquisite vibrations that the sounds provide.

Richard Theisen has created an aural masterwork of history, humanity and music all into one beautiful package with Mayan Stars. The goal of any artist is to captivate and engage their audience and I think Richard Theisen answered the call brilliantly on Mayan Stars.

5/5 Stars

Key Tracks: Jungle Zen, Mayan Stars, The Red Queen

Tracks: 
01.Mayan Stars
02.Jungle Zen
03.Tulum
04.Return of the Jaguar
05.Magia Luna
06.La Premiere Lumiere
07.The Red Queen
08.Blood Moon
09.Beloved
10.A Dolphins Dream

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-New Age Music Reviews Founder

October 22, 2014

Review Provided By New Age Music Reviews

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New Age Instrumental Review: Trevor Gordon Hall-Mind Heart Fingers

Release Date: September 15, 2014

Label: Independent

Website

Some albums don’t need words. This is one of them. Mind Heart Fingers is Trevor Gordon Hall’s newest album and one that resonates through the soul of the listener. Produced by Windham Hill Records Will Ackerman and production whiz Tom Eaton at Imaginary Road Studios, this album is as deceptively simple as a rising soufflé. Light and airy, it soars over your taste buds in a melody of flavors and experiences.

Gordon’s fifth album, Mind Heart Fingers shows just how talented this artist is. Mellow guitar and intricate finger work bring to life a thoughtful time in “Blue Hour.” Staring off into space, the mind whirls and clicks, taking the machinations of the day and breaking them down into slower moving parts to dissect and understand. This piece is a breath of silence and inner searching for those times when you just need to be introspective and solitary.

“Surviving Ordinary Days” is a mantra for the rest of us. Quirky and light guitar movements accompany the soundtrack to my day…not always graceful in action or thought, but bumbling towards a hopefully successful outcome with hope in my heart and a plucky soul to keep me going. This music says it all. We all want that perfection. We want to get through the ordinary to find the extraordinary so we can breathe it in. Just for a little while before the grind of everyday reaches back up and pulls us under. This piece is a machination of that. Quirky…bopping along and then swimming with the stream to make it where you need to go. Because there is always tomorrow. Because we choose to survive for the ones we love.

“Short Story” is the last track on the album. Just as the title suggests, the piece reminds me of opening a book while you’re curled in a window seat, eager to start a short adventure while you have a moment in between life and car pools. Tentative and well composed, this tender composition brings to life the peaceful joy of a quiet moment in a world that just won’t sit still.

Trevor Gordon Hall is an artist to watch. His work with the wizards of Imaginary Road Studios shows him for what he is—a man who speaks his passion through his guitar. With a few sprinkled instruments and percussion throughout the album, the essential sensation remains the same. Emotion of the everyday expressed through a pluck of string. Mind. Heart. Fingers. Play on.

4.5/5 Stars

Key Tracks: The Blue Hour, Surviving Ordinary Days, Short Story

Tracks:
01. Intro
02. Morning Sidewalk 3.0
03. The Blue Hour
04. The Meeting At the Window
05. Almost Spring
06. The Shining Barrier
07. My Dearest
08. Surviving Ordinary Days
09. The Discipline of Curiosity
10. Midnight and Raining
11. Turning Ruts Into Grooves
12. Short Story

DanaWright, Sr. Staff Writer

October 19, 2014

Review Provided By New Age Music Reviews