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Release Date: August 22, 2025
Label: Gentle Rain Music
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)
