3.5

Release data:

Darshan Ambient – Falling Light
CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, LotusPike, 2012

I remember the early music by multi-instrumentalist Michael Allison, aka Darshan Ambient, as pastoral and quiet textural synth music. Since a few years though, his musical approach has started to transform quite a bit. “Falling Light” features a further shift to extensive use of bass and lap steel/slide guitar, multi-layered percussion, where synths play an accompanying role.

This 60-minute disc is an instrumental release that’s picking up the thread where the previous album “Dream in Blue” (on which I already had some mixed feelings) left its listeners.
The title-track found at the start is a nice and sparkling one, along introspective-angled pieces such as “Out to Sea”, the piano-based “To Look At In Winter” or the melancholic realm painted on “The Immense Window” and “Forgotten Sky”. The fine-crafted music of Mark Isham also comes to mind occasionally.

But once again I can’t really adjust to some jazzy rhythms and ditto undercurrents found elsewhere on the album (despite the dreamy, heartfelt feel that’s still firmly embedded in Mr. Allison’s contemporary music). Overall, “Falling Light” suits me much better than its predecessor.

Website: www.darshanambient.com/home.html

You can see what reviews I have done of this artist on the Darshan Ambient artist page