Not Ready To Leave 2011 Yet!

Every year around the Holidays, when I have some extra time to spare, I go on a bit of a quest to find and explore music that I may have missed throughout the year. It is a fun time for me and I am always excited about the prospect of finding one more great album. This year I was really pleased to not only find one, but two. 

Jonathan Wilson, Gentle Spirit 
On Jonathan Wilson’s website, his bio states that Wilson is resolutely committed to “old school” musical values and that his music is steeped equally in the woodsy contours of his North Carolina Blue Ridge experiences and the atmospheric guitar reveries of Neil Young and Quicksilver Messenger Service. After listening to Wilson’s debut album I could not agree more. 

Gentle Spirit is a wonderful album that completely exudes the groove and warmth that reflects what Wilson describes as “that golden late ‘60s, early ‘70s period when rural and urban sensibilities colluded in producing some of rock’s most imperishable recordings.”

As a “longtime student” of Los Angles’ Laurel Canyon, it’s musical heritage, and its “Canyon Culture”, Wilson wanted his musical ideas to “echo many of an earlier generation.” Slow burning, mellow,and laidback, Gentle Spirit really does carry you off to another time and place and holds you there through 13 songs that span close to an hour and 20 minutes. 

I loved this album and know that I will be listening to it for a very long time to come. 

Desert Raven  



Ólafur Arnalds, Living Room Songs 
Icelandic composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Ólafur Arnalds set out to create and release one song a day, for a week, back in October. As he explains on his website, the songs were recorded and filmed live in the living room of his Reykjavik apartment and released instantly. This was an ambitious undertaking and the results are breathtaking. 

Arnalds is a wonderful composer who beautifully blends neo-classical and electronica music. On Living Room Songs, he creates a quiet, warm, subtle, and heartfelt space where the intimacy of setting can be sensed within each one of the seven recordings. I love the way the sparse instrumentation seems to float in the air, enveloping the listener and carrying them along on this brief, but gorgeous journey.

I highly encourage you to listen to Living Room Songs and then go explore Arnolds' other works. You will not be disappointed. 

Fyrsta