review
Natural Power is a triple "p"
release: purely perfect pop! By that I mean
this recording is chock full of brilliant
electronic pop instrumental music that begs
to be played at loud volumes. It's in the
same vein as Jan Hammer's Beyond the Mind's
Eye album, another recording that I can
play over and over and enjoy it each and
every time. There is something so wonderful
about hearing fantastic hooks and catchy
rhythms, both of which are in abundance
on Natural Power. Slip this CD into the
deck of your touring sedan, head for the
open road, and just feel that great sense
of symmetry as you, the music, the machine,
and the ribbon of highway coalesce to form
a sensation unlike anything else!
Deep sky divers are Jon Short and David
Jones, two UK musicians who have been recording
music for over a decade now. In fact, the
tracks on this CD were originally recorded
from 1991 to 1994. Originally, Natural Power
was available only on mp3.com. Just this
past year (2002), after Jon Short remastered
the tracks, it was released on the duo's
anyrobinhood label with two tracks deleted
and two new ones added. All I can say is
"Thank you, Jon!"
The album opens with the short (sub two-minutes)
"Eternia," an explosive shot of
electro-adrenaline with synthesizers soaring
and swooping across the soundfield, accompanied
by thundering tom toms and wall-of-sound
keyboards. It's probably one of the most
powerful opening tracks I've heard in years.
Next, the title cut slides the music into
the relaxed groove where most of the songs
will settle. Midtempo percolating sampled
percussion in a myriad of styles (from trap
set drums to cow bell to scratch beats),
assorted keyboards, and echoed digital piano,
all of it polished to a glossy sheen of
perfect engineering (headphones will reveal
an extraordinary mix, with panning effects
galore and instruments located in distinct
locations in the soundfield). "Ivory
Coast"has a loping tempo, panpipe sampled
keys, whistling synth lead lines, and an
infectious grin-inducing sound (this track
might remind you, as it did me, of David
Antony Clark's CD, Before Africa).
Almost every track here has something to
offer lovers of catchy instrumental electronic
pop music, whether your taste runs toward
the slow and sensuous rhythms of "Where
Only Seabirds Roam,"the grey-clouds-in-the-afternoon
soft jazz of "Change in the Weather,"
the out-and-out funkiness of "Stride
for Stride" (way cool electric piano
and sampled bongos), or the mystery and
dramatic power of "Timeloch" (at
eight minutes, the longest track on the
album). And, for those of you who are already
familiar with deep sky divers, Natural Power
marked the first appearance of their "anthem,"
the amazing "Raging Calm" (in
my opinion, one of the best new age pop
instrumentals of the nineties, bar none).
Admittedly, I didn't enjoy everything on
the album with equal enthusiasm. "Inner
Space (Tranquility)"and "Inner
Space (Hostility)"just don't click
with me much, although there's nothing wrong
with either one. They're less catchy than
the other tracks here, and the latter has
a march-like cadence on the snares, as well
as a slight over-the-top exultant nature
to the music itself. However, given that
there are fifteen songs on this CD, I'm
not going to quibble. So many of the cuts
on Natural Power kick major amounts of ass
that I can certainly live with one or two
weak entries. The album closes with a new
remix of the title track (the "primitive
power source" mix) and it¹s a
fitting ending to a recording that I enjoyed
so much that I'd wager I played it twenty
times before writing this review. If you¹re
into toe-tapping, catchy, and extremely
accessible instrumental music, played on
electronic keyboards and digital piano which
crisscrosses between the boundaries of new
age, smooth jazz, pop, and adult contemporary
genres with the ease of a glider carried
on a thermal, Natural Power is going to
earn a spot in your CD player's rotation
and hold onto it for a long time. Highly
recommended.
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