September 22, 2025

New Age Contemporary Instrumental Review & Interview: Robert Thies & Damjan Krajacic-Blue Landscapes V: Forever the Sea

Release Date:  August 22, 2025

Label: Gentle Rain Music

Website

Blue Landscapes V: Forever the Sea is music from a quieter place, inspired by the beauty of nature, from Robert Thies & Damjan Krajacic.

 

I had the opportunity to hear this duo in 2017, covering Blue Landscapes II: Discoveries.

 

It’s genuinely remarkable how music, like Blue Landscapes V: Forever the Sea, has the power to transcend time. It’s an experience that allows me to escape the relentless march of time and be fully present in the moment.

 

The duo states on their website that their music is about the forests, the mountains, the lakes, the streams, the sea - even what lies beyond the stars - but always grounded in human emotion. The cover art certainly portrays something calming and the beauty of a natural landscape.

 

As the beginning of this recording enters my world, I feel immediately set at ease with “forever the sea.” The keyboards create the landing point for the flute and all its mystery and magic. Gazing at the artwork again transports me to another time and place of relaxation and renewal.

 

That opening track is just the beginning of an extensive musical journey through fourteen tracks. The shortest track is “elle joue sous la pluie” (she plays in the rain) at (3:18) and the longest is the opener “forever the sea” at 6:28. This gives the listener ample opportunity to settle into this enchanted soundscape.

 

As I go through this audio soundtrack, I think about how the music is grounded in human emotion. Music is literally emotion set to sound. The effects of the sounds will be readily apparent. Particularly with instrumental music, there is an infinite balance of give and take between each note.

 

the waters between us” kindled that thought process and how it developed as I listened. Without any urgency, just a gentle nudge, I found a better place for my consciousness to be for a short time. The key here is to listen to the flow from one track to the next. Keep in mind that the concept is water, so flow is a key word that connects it all.

 

In essence, each short time becomes an entire part of time and space, not in minutes, but in music, displacing the meaning of time within each track. As you fall into these sounds, nothing else matters but the music. It becomes a different level of interpretation of sound, but yours alone. That is prolific if I say so myself.

 

Where this recording ends, it changes the direction with vocals on “(i’d follow you) to the edge of the world – vocal version” which features the gorgeous vocalizations of Sangeeta Kaur, with lyrics by Danaë Xanthe Vlasse.

 

It was an interesting and refreshing way to end a recording that is primarily contemporary instrumental with a new age foundation. A lot of this music has ambient textures weaving in and out of it. The two main instruments, the piano and flute, are in sync from beginning to end. It is that consistency, breadth, and scope of their instruments that fill each composition with so many elegant transitions and movements.

 

Blue Landscapes V: Forever the Sea is like taking the basic tenets of classical music and bending and shaping them into a more ambient sound, with all the color of each instrument stretching out and showing their versatility through the imaginations of the artists playing them.

 

This is for the soul, and relaxation of the mind and spirit found in music, and another example of how it is done to perfection.

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-NAMR Founder

September 16, 2025

Tracks:

01. forever the sea (6:28)

02. our sails know the way (5:15)

03. mirror of floating stars (4:52)

04. (i’d follow you) to the edge of the world (5:50)

05. through the mist (4:29)

06. elle joue sous la pluie (she plays in the rain) (3:18)

07. beneath your sky (3:56)

08. voices in the blue (4:44)

09. where love flows (4:57)

10. quiet shore’s lullaby (4:15)

11. no map, just sky (5:15)

12. the waters between us (3:14)

13. and so it shall be (3:25)

14. (i’d follow you) to the edge of the world – vocal version (featuring Sangeeta Kaur, with lyrics by Danaë Xanthe Vlasse) (5:50)


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