3.5

Release data:

Michael Neil – Silent Light
CD-R, Private Release, 2010

The album “Silent Light” began life as part of an ongoing series of works around the theme of Memory, Migration, and Mortality, which was set in motion with Michael Neils film “The Brownstone Trilogy” and the installation “The Breath of Exhaling Ghosts”.
Moreover, the particular inspiration for this album is the concept of Electronic Voice Phenomenon.

“Silent Light” is a 60-minute work offering six tracks of sonic experimentation, which sees the atmospheric music of Mr Neil transformed in a contemporary, more minimal approach, which is especially expressed in the sequenced parts.

Still, there’s a fluid, mesmerizing feel underneath the music, with “Sea Life” shortly returning to Neil’s classic style of gracious freeform music with melancholic and symphonic hints.

My personal favourite though is the 21-minute “Teufelsberg”, of which the sweeping textural landscape carries elevating, spatial and timeless elements.

All in all, “Silent Light” makes a mature work with a pleasant kind of intimacy and spaciousness, although there are several psychedelic and slightly abstract rims present in the music as well.
Nice going, Michael.

The album is available as digital download through MusicZeit.

Website: www.michaelneil.eu

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