Acoustic Ocean - Reflections on Still Water (2010)
Acoustic Ocean – Reflections on Still Water (2010)
1. Night Flight – (4:18)
2. Moon Over Mauna Kea – (4:46)
3. Rainbow Falls – (4:20)
4. Dancers Of The Deep – (4:40)
5. Motherless Child – (4:16)
6. Devas In The Garden – (3:54)
7. Place Of Refuge – (5:22)
8. Voyager – (5:27)
9. Reflections on Still Water - (5:07)
10. Safe Journey Home – (5:00)
Playlist length: 47 minutes 10 seconds
Summary: Beautiful harmonies of Celtic Harp and acoustic guitar form the basis of 10 mostly relaxing and enchanting new age style songs, with a celtic flavor. All of the tracks are supported with Fretless bass, and other supporting sounds include cello, cedar flute, piano, Mandolin, Uillean Pipes, Pennywhistle, and Hammered Dulcimer (See instrumentation by track below), plus vocalise on track #3 “Rainbow Falls.”
The compositions are beautiful and the performances superb.
This is the second CD release by Acoustic Ocean (who are Peggy Morgan, harp, and Bette Phelan, all other stinged instruments and keyboards). For those familiar with their first effort, titled “Light Returning” (2008), “Reflections on Still Water” is very similar in musical style, with the exception that it has less vocalise, and does not employ the enviromental sounds of ocean waves, water, birds & gulls, and forest sounds that were embeded in most tracks on the previous “Light Returning”.
Those familiar with the group Magical Strings will find the music on “Reflections On Still Water” similar to their work, particularly the album “Islands Calling” (1996), but others as well. “Reflections On Still Water” is also reminiscent of many of Wind Machine’s albums of the 1980s – 1990s.
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Genres (& sub genres): Instrumental, New Age music, Celtic Harp Music, Celtic New Age music, World Rhythms, Acoustic Music, Acoustic Guitar, Relaxing Music, Celtic Music, World Rhythms
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Listening Impressions: Acoustic, tranquil, peaceful, tropical, magical, enchanting, relaxing, haunting;
vocalise (on #3 Rainbow Falls);
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Similar to: Magical Strings, Wind Machine, Lisa Lynne & Aryeh Frankfurter, Aine Minogue
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Instrumentation by track:
1. Night Flight – (4:18) – Celtic Harp, Guitar, Cedar Flute, Fretless Bass
2. Moon Over Mauna Kea – (4:46) – Celtic Harp, Piano, Cello, Fretless Bass
3. Rainbow Falls – (4:20) – Celtic Harp, Guitar, Mandolin, Hammered Dulcimer, Fretless Bass
4. Dancers Of The Deep – (4:40) – Celtic Harp, Guitar, Flute, Fretless Bass
5. Motherless Child – (4:16) – Celtic Harp, Cello, Fretless Bass
6. Devas In The Garden – (3:54) – Celtic Harp, Guitar, Mountain Dulcimer, Uillean Pipes, Fretless Bass
7. Place Of Refuge – (5:22) – Celtic Harp, Guitar, Mountain Dulcimer, Electric Guitar, Pennywhistle, Fretless Bass
8. Voyager – (5:27) – Celtic Harp, Guitar, Cello, Fretless Bass
9. Reflections On Still Water – (5:07) – Celtic Harp, Guitar, Fretless Bass
10. Safe Journey Home – (5:00) – Celtic Harp, Guitar, Pennywhistle, Uillean Pipes, Fretless Bass
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Great Segues (with songs from this album, Reflections On Still Water):
1. Acoustic Ocean (2010) – Rainbow Falls – Reflections On Still Water (4:20) +
Magical Strings (1996) – Warm Island – Islands Calling (4:52)
2. Acoustic Ocean (2010) – Dancers Of The Deep – Reflections On Still Water (4:40) +
Magical Strings (1996) – Ferry to Islesboro – Islands Calling (3:54)
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