00 A Quiet Light.nfo
General Information
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Title: A Quiet Light
Author: Meg Bowles
Release Year: 2011
Genre: New Age
File Information
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Number of Tracks: 6
Total Duration: 1:04:07
Total Size: 228.77 MB
Files Created on: 26-Mar-2018 23:34:24
Encoded At: CBR 395 kbit/s 44 KHz Stereo
ID3 Tags: No
NFO Created: 26-Mar-2018 23:39:01
NFO/SFV/PAR created by: Mp3BookHelper http://mp3bookhelper.sourceforge.net/
Posting
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Posting date: 26-Mar-2018
File List
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Duration File Name
1 0:11:57 01 Nocturnal Flight.flac
2 0:09:25 02 Glacial Dawn.flac
3 0:10:53 03 Forest Glade.flac
4 0:08:52 04 Chant for a Liquid World.flac
5 0:08:22 05 Beyond the Far Shore.flac
6 0:14:38 06 A Quiet Light.flac
Description
===========
MEG BOWLES: A Quiet Light
http://cdbaby.com/cd/megbowles
1 - Nocturnal Flight
2 - Glacial Dawn
3 - Forest Glade
4 - Chant for a Liquid World
5 - Beyond the Far Shore
6 - A Quiet Light
I am always fascinated by the mystery of liminal space (from the Latin word
another reality. Frequently, the solitude of nature provides a doorway into
liminal space, a territory between the worlds which can feel intensely private
yet vast. These experiences often feel a bit extraordinary, even numinous.
Witnessing the gleam of early morning light flowing like a line of gold down
the trees, listening to the hushed stillness of the wind over the lake, bidding
farewell to the slow peeling away of blue twilight as a canopy of stars is
revealed overhead, are just a few of those moments of pure grace, where one can
suddenly become transported into a greater, deeper reality that exists parallel
to, yet outside of, ordinary awareness.
A number of images seemed to accompany
the writing of these pieces, eventually becoming the inspiration for the track
titles. A constant presence throughout this project was the perception of a
subtle luminosity - a quiet light - that inhabits all things.
Reviews:
by
John Shanahan, Hypnagogue (July 5, 2011)
The six tracks here glide by in exactly one hour, and it is a perfect hour of listening. Bowles knows how to pull at your emotions with sound, and she spends the time guiding you through her ideas and intentions. You will feel every note here. I genuinely cannot say enough about this disc. Calm, beautiful and superbly affecting, A Quiet Light is a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD."
-John Shanahan
by Bill Binkelman, ZoneMusicReporter (August 14,2011):
A
Quiet Light
"After way too long an absence from the ambient music scene (her last release was 1999's brilliant From the Dark Earth), Meg Bowles has made her triumphant return with A Quiet Light, and she has not missed a beat. If anything, her time away seems to have sharpened her focus and increased her ambient and spacemusic chops. A Quiet Light is an excellent album and heralds Bowles reemergence into well-deserved prominence as not only one of the few women recording and releasing ambient and spacemusic but as a major player in the arena as well. Fans of her last two releases, Blue Cosmos and the aforementioned From the Dark Earth will recognize some of Bowles' signature touches scattered throughout the six tracks on A Quiet Light but there are plenty of new wrinkles here as well.
The CD is superbly engineered by the artist's husband, Richard Price, who also co-produced the album. The sound is sumptuous yet subtle, full of nuance if listened to intently on headphones; but the CD is equally enjoyable (as all good ambient should be) played in the background during quiet times of relaxation or contemplation.
Bowles drew inspiration for the music on A Quiet Light from her fascination for "liminal
space" which, for example, is typified by the threshold we cross as day becomes night and light changes our perceptions of our surroundings. She refers to these times as "...moments
of pure grace, where one can suddenly become transported into a greater, deeper
reality that exists parallel to, yet outside of, ordinary
awareness."
Track titles paint an accurate picture of the music contained on the CD: "Nocturnal
Flight," "Forest Glade," "Beyond the Far Shore," and "A Quiet
The opening Nocturnal Flight opens with expansive synthesizer textures flowing into each other and breaking apart (sampled overtone vocals are understated). Sparse bass notes provide counterpoint to the sustained tones and warm drones/washes. Very slowly over the twelve-minute track, the bass notes begin to accelerate in tempo until a distinct midtempo beat is achieved, accented by a series of bell tones, while the main synth melody begins to attain a more specific sensation of flight and soaring, hence the cut's title, obviously. Glacial Dawn, which is next, also merits its title as the drones and textures evoke barely any movement whatsoever as well as containing a perceptible element of "cold
(despite the presence of some synth chorals in amidst the assorted other
sounds). A crescendo effect at the six-minute mark seems to convey the moment
the sun finally appears in full above the icy blueness of the glacier. Forest
Glade opens with music that may evoke emerging from an arboreal landscape into
a clearing. The subtle enhancement of the introduction of what sounds like
running water, accompanied by gentle organ-like tones, paints the track with an
four minutes, Bowles introduces an overt rhythmic element, this time a series
of sequenced notes, laid over the lone and forlorn sounding lead synth line
introduces fuller synth chorals and even a solo vocal line, sung in a
distinctly church-like fashion. These angelic voices are counterpointed at the
outset by an assortment of burbling sounds which eventually dissipate and are
replaced by overlapping synthesizer tones, washes and textures.
I could
continue describing the remaining two tracks (Beyond the Far Shore and A Quiet
Light) but by now you should have an accurate picture of what the album holds
in store. Bowles excels at crafting long ambient pieces (the shortest selection
is 8:22) that evolve over their running course, but in such gradual ways that,
while the changes are perceptible, they are never in the least bit jarring. Her
juggling of the various layered synthesizers is formidable and displays her
supreme artistry. A Quiet Light heralds Meg Bowles return to prominence in
ambient and, in particular, the subgenre of classic-era spacemusic. I frankly
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