Description
1.- Voices from the Ethereal Forest 08:14
2. – Ode to a Fragile Sea 06:34
3. – Grove of Light 08:54
4. – Slow Dance Under a Red Moon 05:28
5. – Woodland of Sorrows 06:19
6. – Winter Fog 09:49
7. – Evening Chorus 11:57
Forests are ambient communities of textures, sounds, and lifeforms, all of which interact in a miraculous web, vibrating and dancing with the elemental forces of nature. They sustain life for the planet, bear silent witness to history, and form containing spaces which can attract and hold the emotional energies of all sentient beings, from fear and grief all the way to delight and awe. Forests are also storytellers. When immersed in the woods, we also become woven into a majestic yet intimate tapestry of light and shadow, becoming part of the story. When I was a child, I would often imagine that I could hear the trees sing after a deep, cleansing rain. There were no words, simply the sense of an emerging cluster of sound, radiating what I imagined to be relief and gratitude for the nourishing waters that fed their roots. The idea of a singing forest is what piqued my curiosity about integrating the human voice and especially vocal ensembles into ambient music in a way that honors the primacy of texture. Voices emerge slowly—often beginning before awareness—and then recede, much as the constantly shifting textures of the forest do, all creating an atmosphere of quiet, radiant timelessness. This album invites the listener into a verdant, ambient oasis, where layers of subtle vocal textures form a living tapestry evoking the beauty and magic of forests past. Impressionistic and introspective, this music is also a tribute to the forests which—whether through natural aging, climate change, or destructive human interaction—no longer exist in this realm.
Bert Strolenberg –
Synthesist Meg Bowles considers music -which she always has experienced very visually- as a primary language, a means to link to vivid worlds full of feeling. From the beginning in the early ’90’s she chose to self-release her music music as it proved the most efficient way to bring it into the world with the greatest amount of artistic freedom while retaining full control over the final outcome.
“Voices from the Ethereal Forest”, her ninth album to date, is another beautifully made work of ambient calm. The 57-minute, seven track release (inspired by the life-sustaining beauty and mystery of forests past and present) is both impressionistic and introspective. Similar to Meg’s previous albums, the ambient textural-choral music blends various strong emotive components ranging from tender, serene alongside a few darker-infused soundscapes. While drawing the listener gradually further inward, its sonic tread makes us folllow another path of deeper understanding (as was the case on Meg’s previous “Pilgrimage”).
All-in all, if you’re looking for an enchanting sanctuary, I sure recommend delving into the evocative soundworlds making up “Voices from the Ethereal Forest”.
Rating: 3.5 stars