Arrival is the aptly-named new recording from first-time collaborators Erin Aas and Devin Rice. The 15 tracks are brand new compositions and the music is New Age. It's all very fresh, but Aas and Rice aren't wet behind the ears. They've each been bustling in the music biz for some time, recording, performing, and composing. Both are finger-style guitar mavens and their acoustic axes are the heart of this wholly instrumental record.
The album is relaxing and pillowy, very pleasant to have on, but also pretty easy to ignore. It's like the musical equivalent of aromatherapy. Besides the chiming of steel string acoustic guitars, you'll hear piano and a smattering of instrumental accents, including lightly-tapped hand drums, cello, and English horn. The first tune is “Thin Ayre” which plays on the word 'Ayre,' a 16th and 17th century English lute song. I see the parallels between the tunes on Arrival and the stately English songs of the Renaissance. Both are virtually dissonance-free, so there are hardly any 'blue notes,' the off-key tones that give The Blues its angst. So this disc isn't bluesy, it's flavor is closer to country or folk music. Bits remind me of Simon and Garfunkel without vocals. It's quiet and relaxed, but fun, basically feel-good music.
The song titles include “Something About A Harbor,” “Stars Of Winter,” “Pulborough Spring,” “Waterfall,” and “Lullaby For Now,” all good tags for ambient mood music. One track, “Whiskey In The Watertower,” has some energy to it and the punchy strumming reminds me of a Tom Petty song. Aas and Rice draw on other influences, too. A few sharp chords give “Perdido En Granada” a Spanish classical guitar vibe, and a brisk guitar riff in “Nevada” sounds plucked from an Irish fiddle tune. This diversity is mixed in subtly, without changing the New Age vibe.
Check out Arrival if you need some background mood music for relaxation, especially if you like the natural sound of acoustic guitars. You can hear fingernails hitting jangly steel strings and warm wooden reverberations. Will Ackerman did a great job producing a live-sounding disc and meshing all the instruments together without overpowering the guitars. That's good news because both Aas and Rice are expressive players, excellent at churning emotion and mood out of their instruments.
Key Tracks: Thin Ayre, Nevada, Perdido En Granada
July 15, 2010
