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Light Music (72'23") is an album made by a man who feels that music matters most. George Wallace believes he can touch magic, if the dream is worthy enough. Wallace stands for the idea that while music may be conceived and made in a studio, once it is released into the world, it serves only as raw material for the thought process. Judged solely as a New Age album, Light Music delivers the goods. A marvel of nunanced expressiveness, this album is also a beautiful journey through Wallace's subconscious mind. His work has always been fed by ideas outside of his art, and Wallace incorporates his freshest discoveries into Light Music. A few tracks speak forcefully in tribal rhythms and soloing electric guitar, while others focus on the heart in evocations of dreamlike rapture. It is here that Wallace creates something gentle, pretty and substantive - which enchants at every spin of this disc. Sustaining synthesizer chords roll along in a current of electronic sound, as slow gongs and chimes ring above - and open up a cerebral ritual space. As listener thoughts recede Light Music steadily advances its digital ceremony, until such time that flashes of brilliance and bursts of sonic release again command our attention. Wallace is always on the lookout for the presence of wonder, and to our benefit Light Music offers us nine tracks worth. Resisting the market demand for musicians to work in a consistent style, Wallace practices his music not for money and fame, but to experience becoming - to find what is inside himself, and to grow his soul. Wallace's existence, and decades long presence, imply that it is at our own peril that we neglect the nurturing of the soul. So let us take this lesson, and use his music as a way of opening up - without prejudice, to the unknowns of the universe.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 12 November 2015 |
