3.5

Release data:

Michael Neil – Ikons
CD-R, Private Release, 1999

For the album “Ikons”, Michael Neil was is inspired by the philosophical themes embedded in classic poetry and literary works by e.g. Andrew Marvell, W. B. Yeats, and S.T. Coleridge, all themed around the ephemeral, memory and mortality and the subject of infinity.

The 64-minute album is divided in two parts, Ephemera and Inscape. The first features nine short, light piano pieces with only occasionally a faint backdrop of electronics.
The overall mood of the descriptive music is melancholic, introspective and in places even eccentric. Of all these carefully moulded pieces, “To a child dancing in the wind” is the absolute gem in my opinion.

Inscape though consists of four longer electronic soundscapes, of which “Dissolving Sun” consists of meandering drone and textural pads, after which things take a lighter, more accessible turn on “Eternal Alchemy”.

“Ikon” is a lush, airy and softly whirling soundscape with calming piano keys. “Back to the Viewless Hand” brings things nicely to a closure with smooth, gently shifting synth pads.

Those looking for imaginary and dreamy music, not afraid of an occasional abstract nod in the second half, will submerge in the heart and soul of this sonic poetry.

The album is available as download from MusicZeit.

Website: www.michaelneil.eu

You can see what reviews I have done of this artist on the Michael Neil artist page