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Sometimes, I encounter an album which is so pleasant and relaxing that Idon't mind it not being the most original or inventive sound I've ever heard. This one falls into that category. Despite its modest packaging and its very bland title, The Journey , by Canadian Dino Pacifici, is a delightful hour of listening. Pacifici's influences range from Vangelis to Steve Roach, as well as "new age jazz" players such as Susan Mazer and Dallas Smith and various "world" sources. He has assimilated the styles of many different people, but his interpretation leaves the harsher and rougher edges of these originals out, so that a quieter and more appealing, "easier" sound emerges.
The Journey is filled with a warm, summery mood. It's vacation music-perfect to listen to in July and August [for our readers down under, that'd be January and February, right? - ed.]. The various tracks range from tropical cruise music spiced with African percussion, to stylish jazz chords over drifting cloudscapes of electronic mist, to synthesizer sparkles. Pacifici intersperses sounds of thunder and rain into some of the pieces. These sound-effects, unlike many other similar instances in this kind of music, sound natural and authentic. I am especially fond of track 2, a three-part composition called "Earth Song" (his titles need a bit of upgrading). Another of my favorites is "Voices in the Mist," a sprightly tune using electronically altered human vocals. It's the opposite of "dark ambient." It's "light ambient." Whether Pacifici uses rhythms and percussion or lets his sound just drift, this album is truly "comfort music," made not to challenge or disturb but to bring a sonic kindness to the ear. And this listener is grateful for that kind effort.
Hannah Shapero -WIND AND WIRE Magazine
Mapping the Frontier of Acoustic and Electronic Instrumental Music |
