Spinning on a Cosmic Dime: Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy

Artists: Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy Album: Spinning on a Cosmic Dime

Release:  In waves, summer of 2024

Genre: Instrumental… acousta-lectric fusion, cinematic joy

Johnson brings piano, ambience, quirky percussion, and mixing chops-- Keaggy brings all manner of splendid guitars: acoustic, electric, and bass.

Exclusively available on Bandcamp 8/23/24

https://jeffjohnsonarkmusic.bandcamp.com/album/spinning-on-a-cosmic-dime

All other music services beginning 9/6/24

Short play
Have you ever seen a family with a bevy of kids…each a variation on a theme, each a little different---with one, just a tad bit different than the others?

Step to the plate, Spinning on a Cosmic Dime -- Johnson and Keaggy’s fifth instrumental child, following Frio Suite, Water Sky, Cappadocia, and Ravenna.

Like its predecessors, Spinning on a Cosmic Dime (hereafter Spinning) showcases a stunning blend of “New Age stylings”  with touches of Art-Rock and World Music.  Spinning opens with what sounds like a nod to the Tibetan Himalayas, then dallies with touches of Latinesque guitar.

Like its siblings, Spinning features eight long songs, each a symphonic tone poem made of shifting movements.

Like its siblings, Spinning is layered and complex, twining acoustic and electric worlds.

So what makes Spinning different?
In a trio of words, Cush, Absence, and Gorgeous-Turbo.

Long Play
Quality has long been a defining characteristic of all things Johnson/Keaggy, but there is something about Spinning that feels like a Rolex or a Bentley or Nikon Z9--- whatever your standard for a fine fitting door. It simply clicks, or plays like butter and brass.

Then there is that absence.
Keaggy and Johnson, (but especially Johnson) have long courted melancholy-spare, even the dark night of the soul.  But apart from a cut or two running tranquil, there is nary a whiff of the somber--this whole work runs mellow to joyous. It isn't raucous happy, more like a glowy, Saturday-morning happy.

Finally, Spinning dishes out a sound that I  (for lack of a better phrase) call, gorgeous turbo---make that effervescent trot, splendiferous energy, or radiant pulse.  When you hear it you'll know. How much more honey-muscle joy can you press into sound!

In a quick conversation with Johnson, he mentioned that Spinning came together with greater ease and speed than earlier works. My sense: This work is no less demanding than its siblings--the ease testifies to comfort and intuition. By now, each man can complete the other's musical thoughts. There is a sense in which Spinning may be deemed more accessible than the earlier offerings.  Again, not a matter of reach, but rather, thematic unity and tone. Spiritual Vibe: I suppose the title, Spinning on a Cosmic Dime could have been used to convey the idea that we are a lonely speck of dust spinning through the dark abyss. Or… it could be used to fan a sense of gratitude and wonder. Here we are, on a bejeweled bundle of life, spinning through the singing heavens.  Like their elder brother Sebastian Bach, Keaggy and Johnson create compositions that span the arc from sacred to secular.  I might wish for a better word than secular as I do not mean music without sacred weight, just not music that shouts “churchy.” Case in point, the instrumental collaborations between Jeff and Phil employ titles anchored in place, or natural phenomena. The sound and vibe is naturalistic (with exception made for sacred spaces).  Spinning on a Comic Dime flows from the spiritual act of wonder--a common precursor to Christian praise.  Beyond that, these works exude the “fruit of the Spirit.” When I hear Spinning I hear audio manifestations of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control! And so it goes, a work can be both naturalistic, and steeped in holy goodness.

For those still here: When Johnson first introduced his second album, Water Sky I figured that it and his subsequent works with Keaggy might chase water themes… with future efforts given to the Jordan, Colorado, or Amazon. After Cappadocia came out, I wondered if the team might be tracing seasons in disguise. Now with number five out, all my attempts to trace a coherent collection rationale (save good music) are busted, though I still like the seasonal motif. As for similarities, I still tend to lump the first two together, the second two together, and now the fifth, a retrospective maverick.

Frio suite
Month: November, albeit an Arkansas’s November with multi-hued sweetgum and ruby oaks.

 

Water Sky
Month: February 

Ostensibly the leanest and darkest of the set (and a personal fave). 

While darker in tone, February is not without brilliant and overpowering light!

Cappadocia
Month: April, May or October? For whatever reasons this is my most played of the set, perhaps for its sense of mystery. 

Ravenna
Month: August or September? Hot mediterranean days, cool nights and some of the liveliest, rockingest numbers in the set.
Spinning on a Cosmic Dime
Month: June (though not an Arkansas June, more a northern-June). The colors are melon and rhubarb, not blistery. This is the music I want to play when friends come to the house and we sit in a soft summer night, happy with wine.

On a personal note:
I was pleased to provide Johnson with a timelapse video from this year's astonishing Solar Eclipse. The setting: Arkansas’ own Cedar Falls of Petit Jean State Park, with three hours smashed into seconds. Speak of Cosmic Wonder!

Eremo: by Jeff Johnson and John Van Deusen

Jeff Johnson and John Van Deusen  

Album: Eremo  Release: 2/2024
Genre: Ambient “New Age” in the loose tradition of Philip Glass

Quick spin:
Veteran Celtic-Cinematic key-man Jeff Johnson has teamed with post-punk, neofolk troubadour and keyman John Van Deusen to create a 29 minute “audio-visual” dive into hallowed space, and wide-awake lucid dreaming.

Based on the title (Eremo, Italian for Refuge or Hermitage) and a thought-shaping video by Johnson, I start my audio-visual trek in a forest grotto. I am in a mossy enclave, surrounded by living things. Second listen, I loosen up, visualizing swelling copper-lime seas at sunset. Now I am on to manta rays gliding through Aurora Borealis.

Bridge:
I have walked with Jeff Johnson through numerous collaborations. As a rule, it is easy to tell who is Jeff, and who is non-Jeff. Jeff plays keys, others play violin or flute, guitar. sax, or voice. But now that we have another key man, how do we tell the two apart?

First listen, I am hearing hallmark Jeff… then I hear a most peculiar sound. Jeff has always layered his work, but this subterranean sound is more like scraping paper--Like noise. Then I remember a song by John (because I love John too) that collapses into pure noise.

My guess -- John is responsible for not only peculiar textural elements, but a greater push into audio oddness, like those thudding threshold sounds that make my ears feel like I am driving with one window down.

(Am I right?)

Long Play
When I was a kid, our seventh grade Music teacher introduced us to audio “Mimesis” --- the concept of music imitating or suggesting real world sounds. These sounds might include birdsong, animal cries, trains, explosions, footsteps—anything that makes noise.

And so it is that I came to hear Flight of the Bumblebee, the Grand Canyon Suite (with its donkey clops, wind generators, and thundering cymbals) or the gently rising sun of Morning Mood from the Peer Gynt Suite. (I don't know, does the rising sun have a sound?)





For people less familiar with ambient music, Eremo may stretch their very definition of what music is. How do we speak of a composition that is lean of note, chord and beat --- built on swaths of prismatic sound? Or ---how do we speak of a sound that seems to be like many sounds at once, ever changing.


Eremo is not without grounding elements. Johnson and Van Deusen employ sporadic piano and organ, together with birds, bells, and chimes--heartbeats, buzzers, rustling leaves, garbled tape, seeping water, bubbling pots, green noise, and plenty of space.

Forgive me in that I do not know the right word, but I figure that if 4/4 time signals a brisk steady pace, then Eremo must be built on something akin to 9/10 time. (Is there such a thing?) The entire composition pulses to the rhythm of a long breath. I can literally keep time, breathing in and out…slowly, like I do for the doctor, or when sampling the fragrance of a primal forest.





Inasmuch as both Johnson and Van Deusen are students of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I should not be surprised if they intend Eremo to be suggestive of spiritual realities. But how does an instrumentalist suggest the realm of spirit in sound? Is it the sound of wind or silence or implied light? All I know is that when I listen to this music I come away with a sense of Divine Cohabitation.

God is near. Present. In the mix.

Which does sound peculiar. But I figure: I am in the world. The world (to some extent) is in me. The world is in God (in whom we live and move and have our being.) Indeed God not only holds the Cosmos in his hand, He sustains it, working in and through it.

All of which may sound perfectly lovely---with a twist.

When unleashed by Eremo, I envision not only beautiful things like welling seas and fanning light, I also imagine weird and creepy things, like paramecia and slime mold, jittering atoms, oily light and descending fog. But if God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, he owns too, the centipedes beneath a thousand rocks.  By the time I get to Stage Seven (the final movement) I envision killer whales and angels streaming overhead across a canopy of stars.


Final Note
I hope this doesn't deflate Jeff or John but I have found a new use for Eremo. I can listen to Eremo with headphones, enthralled--turning each layer of sound on my ears... OR, I can play the thing on my low-fi phone by my bed at night - and be knocked out by the second movement.




And so it goes, the sounds of Eremo have become my inner track, by day and night.



Eremo on Jeff Johnson's BandCamp with added links to video

and for marvels from Van Deusen, click HEAR:)

Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy: Cappadocia

Cappadocia.
Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy
Genre: Ambi-coustic (New Age) with touches of Art-rock
Release 2/2019



Quick Spin:

Cappadocia, the third joint-instrumental work by ambience-keyman Jeff Johnson -- and guitarist Phil Keaggy, showcases both artists at their collaborative best. In keeping with the recipe of their earlier ventures, Cappadocia is at at once impressionistic and precise, hypnotic and varied, melancholy and sublime. “Volume-III” flows naturally from their earlier works, but gives greater space to bold Keaggy licks, a touch of the middle east, and the feeling of soaring. This is the kind of music I lean into, savoring every delicious sound. Those who listen loud will discover all kinds of subterranean textures, and sounds inside of sounds. Emotionally rich, Cappadocia traffics in in both solemnity and full-on joy.



Cappadocia (the album) draws its name and from a weirdly weathered region in central Turkey. Video footage highlights a drip-castle collage, a valley of soft rock dunes. The dunes,in turn are studded with caves, tunnels and man made chambers. Cappadocia (the place) played a vital role in the expansion of the early church, providing place for refuge and worship. (The CD art features pictures of primitive churches hollowed inside the the soft stone dunes)

The music reflects the typography of land and spirit. On the physical: drips, echoes and doves. On the spiritual: that which envelopes and fills. Cappadocia (the album) suggests the very presence of God in mind and place.
 
This  is the language of Sanctuary. 

Beyond that, modern day Cappadocia is a favored land for hot air ballooning. And so we soar on multiple levels.

I might have worked longer to describe the music, but figure you can just listen here.  (Bandcamp)


But if you want to better hear what you are hearing, return here!

-----

Long Play



IF I corner you in a room, or drive you in my car, it’s not long until I have introduced you to the music of Jeff Johnson or Phil Keaggy. Or better yet, a two-fer.

These two men have gone as far as anyone to shape my ear, or provide a significant background for key events in my life. I still remember where I was the first time I ever heard Phil Keaggy. The year was 79 or 80. I was palling around with friends from the Baptist Student Union. It was night, We were headed to the lake and someone threw Keaggys seminal work, Master and the Musician into the tape deck. I was in a moment, transfixed and transported. Keaggy’s classical guitar riffs swelled and turned, or exploded in high volume rock riffs, only to return to the understated and sublime. I felt pulled into the very throne room of God. The music gave me the holy willies...and I have never quite recovered.

A year or two later, I discovered Jeff. This time a wacked out prog rock offering, that sounded at times like the band Styx mixed with melancholy piano and anchored in the fantasy writings of George McDonald. I was like nothing I had ever heard before. I became a lifelong fan. Johnson is the king of collaboration. His recordings over the years are shaped by the many talented people he has befriended. I am in love with both his variety… and minor hues.


Put the two together and we have peanut butter and jam.

---

Cappadocia is Jeff and Phil's third collaborative work. I read one review where Phil called this their best. I am not convinced that it is better...though it may be more intricate and lush. All three live in me.



I have a theory. While each of these projects bear a name that unleash its own set of images, I surmise that Jeff and Phil are secretly working on a four-season collection. Naming each work after seasons would be so 1723 (Vivaldi) ... and my theory is not without holes, but still I see a pattern.



Frio suite: With its deep ambience and echoes, reminds me of Texas Creek in late September or October, which is still pretty warm but colored in the stuff of copper, trickle and reflection.   

Water/Sky: with its darker hues, stark minimalism, and gnarly guitar runs winterish. (Not without exceptions) but I can imagine the churning chill and warm of complex February.

As for Cappadocia. It soars. There is quite-joy in each of these recordings, but I hear in Cappadocia, tones that bespeak unbridled joy...a bountiful flowing. Listen to the closing section of That Which is Hidden and see if hear the hidden brilliance of May following a freshing shower. And when I hear the closing sounds of Chapel of Stone, I hear nothing short of radiance... the sun pushing out over a gilded valley with the very city of God descending!)

While the idea of “sacred” - or Christian instrumental music is largely uncontroversial, I remember when, in the days of the Jesus Music revolution, some people questioned the utility of music without words. They wondered whether music alone could serve a missional function. The answer we came to collectively is that music need not be missional; there is great freedom in Christ to engage in all sorts of things with or without sacred utility. That said, I DO hear Holy Spirit lessons all through this music.

Paul, in the book of Galatians says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, (and) self-control.

So...What do I hear when I listen to Cappadocia?  A:  A basket, filled with the fruit.

The gentleness, peace and joy are pretty much direct readings of the sound. The patience and kindness, together with self control are suggested by the process. Both men exercise musical restraint. Rather than make Cappadocia a show-off session, Jeff and Phil embrace musical discipline, sublimating their gifts to each other, even working to make each other shine. I think too of Jeff’s many hours on the tweaking side, with the long-suffering required to execute the blend.

Within Cappadocia I hear a few primal Keaggy tunes.  (The final track plays delightful nods to Master and the Musician, while other tracks mirror sounds I associate with the Streets of Madrid, Phantasmagorical, or Wind and the Wheat. What makes them new is the setting, which so expertly frames Keaggy's guitar pearls. Then, both men manifest restraint, so as not to tear the larger musical fabric. Cappadocia is cohesive in its Holy Ghost discipline.

Finally, I fully believe that this music represents embodied love.  I imagine there is a certain amount of trust that each man gives to each other in abandoning himself to the other's gifts. (including pushing out an unbridled vocal that will be, given the magic of machine, turned into angel song.) Join all that, to the Love of God shed abroad in the hearts of those who call upon Him,  and this is testament to love-filled craftsmanship.


==

I would be curious to learn more about the recording process. These sessions are peculiar in that Jeff and Phil recorded (as I understand it) each of their many tracks in separate places, then shared files. Both musicians have a home studio.

Many - but not all of the songs begin with Jeff Johnson piano. I can imagine that Phil responded to - or improvised on top of a musical bed. But did it always work that way? Some songs seem more Jeff, some more Phil.  The sound blend is so smooth that it is hard to believe that these could have been recorded in separate spaces. Each is playing off each other… Or responding to their own earlier work, in second or third layers. There are times too, where I am hearing notes inside of Keaggy's guitar, almost as if Jeff came in and dropped little chime bells inside each brush of the strings. (Forgive me for my non techy language.) Cappadocia is a work of studio magic.





-

Closing note -- I have a wish: That Jeff and Phil will find another work yet left in them. Cappadocia dishes Joy, Rev, and peace of mind, but I’ve still got a hankering for all the rock’n heat Jeff and Phil could throw at a summer thunderstorm! Bring on the chaos.

Should that never happen, I will yet die a satisfied man:)

Dreams and Visions by Dennis Hendricksen: Album review by Kirk

Artist: Dennis Hendricksen (and friends)

Album: Dreams and Visions
Genre:  Instrumental, experimental jazz 0r …

Epic-Ambient, cinematic New-World Windham hallucinogenic parlor funk, served on a bed of acoustic-electronica with dabbles of Africana, 80s rock, Light, and coriander.   Or something like that.

Release date: 2013
Aurora Productions
Golden Flame Records

.
Quick Spin:

Multi-instrumentalist Dennis Hendricksen has teamed up with over half-a-dozen uber talented musicians to create a sonic ocean that is at once, tidal pool – brooding storm, raging sea --  and the luminescent space between the molecules. 

Some 21 years in the making (original idea to completion) - Dennis speaks of D&V as his Magnum Opus.

Indeed, Dreams and Visions is an audio opulence – an invitation to let your mind go totally bonkers with all kinds of colors, landscapes and lightscapes, even as you dream concurrently of creation, planetary wobble and devastation, flying zebras and cosmic restoration.

Should I ask you how to describe a mango, how would you begin?

It is kind of like a peach but more…trombonish  etc. 

The only way I know how to quickly describe Dreams and Visions to speak the names of a few persons or ideas and hope that gets us in the ballpark.   I hear the lone trumpet of Miles Davis twined with the chaos of a Coltrane; I hear the glow of Chuck Mangione and the keyboard avalanche of Philip Aaberg or the delicate touch of pianist Liz Story.  I hear the luminescent keys of Windham Hill’s Mark Isham, the key-play of jazz-fusionist Charlie Peacock - or the sinewy acid-violin of Hugh Marsh, long time player with Bruce Cockburn (Perhaps because this IS Hugh Marsh, long time player with Bruce Cockburn)  -- I hear the bold resolution of a storm in the tradition of Groffe and the Grand Canyon Suite; I hear the opening refrains of  TV's Survivor, a stint with a horror film, and the celebratory hues of The Lion King; I hear the lush, layered synth work of Hammock, or the vigorous chamber tunes of Nightnoise. 

I hear liquid rainbows, blue cities, raging Orcs, blooming blooms, and Eve singing with the dawn.

I hear a lot of other stuff too.

Long Play:

On its surface Dreams and Visions appears to be a musical product. That is, you can buy the songs that are apart of Dreams and Vision as a download, or go old school and buy the CD.   Of the two I TOTALLY recommend the latter, because Dreams and Visions – the CD, is a total package replete with sound, a 32 page book, art, photography, Dennis's own poems, inspirational quotes and a nifty metal box.  (See samples on this review)

Until now, I have associated nifty metal boxes with musical offerings like “The Greatest Music of the 70s” as sold by Wal-Mart in their dying CD section.  Now I know that the metal box (which will not allow me to place this CD in the file box with my other CDs) elevates Dreams and Visions to a single status.  It stands alone both musically, and as a total package with an illustrated story line.  

And what a story line. In short:  the History of the Universe from start and end.


You can certainly listen to Dreams and Visions "Unaided" - but the narrative takes on deeper form when we embrace it as a package.  The 32 page book tells about the history of how Dreams and Visions came to be.  It showcases "live paintings" that were created real time during live performances of early compositions.   Dennis drives the narrative even deeper with his poems and photographs, then spices the whole with quotes befitting a broken world, awaiting restoration. 

It might help to know that Dennis is a Lutheran pastor of Canadian hue, and some of his session mates were fellow seminary students. That fact has nothing to do with how they play, or even the sounds (which would be highly atypical for any church service) – but it does provide foundation for hope. Even as God heals individuals, we abide under the dream that someday Terra herself will be healed of a grand wound.

The Music

Dreams and Visions allows Dennis to explore the full range of his sonic repertoire. He croons or rages with piano keys… or lets us float in layers of liquid sound.  At first I thought the ambience was some kind of synthesizer; now I see he achieves those translucent tones with a combination of loops, Electric and Ebow Guitars, Fretless bass, an a sax.   

Dennis wrote, or co-wrote most of the compositions; But even more, he created a place where friends are allowed to shimmer with him in a community creation.

My first sense of the music was how utterly complex it is.  I was dazzled by both the process and the sounds, so I asked Dennis a series of questions on Facebook chat.  I started by asking about his collaborations...

Yes.  Hugh Marsh is the violinist on Cockburn's Christmas CD. Hugh played with Bruce Cockburn starting in the late 70's and stayed with him for over 2 decades (the most consistent member of Cockburn's band).

(As for the) other musicians - they are either local musicians I played with at various gigs over the years, or I connected with them while in Seminary (there are two other Lutheran pastors in the crew of musicians - Paul Sartison, who plays bass on some tracks, and David Hunter who is the didgeridoo player anytime that Australian instrument shows up). The trumpet player (Akira Murotani) was a student at Luther College which is right next to the church I serve - he was great as a high school student, he only improved throughout university. So I have been blessed to have connected with many excellent and creative musicians over the years, many of whom became good friends.

The Flow:

Dreams and Visions follows a certain presentation rhythm.  There are three “movements” followed by a final grand concluding sequence.

The setup goes as follows.

Dream 1
Vision 1
Hiatus 1

Dream 2
Vision 2
Hiatus 1

Dream 3
Vision 3
Hiatus 3

Dream 4 (extended) 

Dreams: As is, we often use the word dream to suggest edgeless and floaty.  But not here.  Instead, think of dreams as things which mutate.  The dream compositions are often the most dramatic, erratic and edgy, with musical movements that turn on a dime.  I heard several dreams that started in one place and ended on another planet.

Visions:  Highly Cinematic.

Hiatus: As suggested.  Audio rest between the storm, characterized by lush velvety Ambience.   Delightfully refreshing.

The Mix:

In reading the notes I find that Dreams and Visions is some 21 years in the making.  I assume that means from the ideas behind the tunes to the completion of the disk.  Apart from the raw collaborative synergy of the music, the thing that most intrigues me is the mix.  I cannot image writing this music down in the manner of a symphony… parts seem far too free-form.  Beyond that, I heard certain sounds that seemed to morph, either from one instrument to another, or from organic to synthetic.

I was perplexed, so I asked Dennis about both the complexity and the process.

The complexity of which you speak is one of the reasons it took so long for me to finish the project - I needed big blocks of time to pay attention to everything that is going on. I was involved in the final mixing, but I used some professional sound guys to do the final mixes because I do not have enough knowledge and experience with things like multiband compressors and EQs, and so forth.

Many tracks on Dreams & Visions began improvisationally. I would sometimes tell the musicians the mood, or the picture I was going for - other times (like the improvs with Hugh Marsh) they just happened. I would then use those improvised tracks as the basis for the composition - often editing them to create the essence of the image in my mind. Once these basic tracks were shaped through editing then I would get other musicians to overdub their parts. Sometimes I would write the part out for them exactly, other times I would give them some musical ideas then let them be creative with them. Then once again I would do more editing - shaping the overdubs into a coherent whole. One way to think of this photographically is to say each musician would bring an element of the picture, then I would position that element, light it a certain way, and enhance it in photoshop to bring out colour, or reduce colour. In this way I was using the recording studio like a musical instrument "playing" the contributions of all the musicians.

Other songs were structured right from the beginning, I would build the basic tracks in a very specific way and then have the musicians overdub their parts, often with detailed instructions as to what I was looking for. The first track was like that for example. An example of the other method is the final track which is a weaving together of two improvised bed tracks.

As for transmogrifying instruments -- I would need to know a specific place to tell you for sure, but what I can say is that the way I wove things together there are definite times when one instrument will blend into another - the transition being part of the "magic" of editing. I like that effect, and have used it often.

The vision(s):

About my fourth or fifth straight listen thru, I scratched out all the various images that flew thru my mind, given the dynamics of each tune.  (I was driving at the time, and now cannot read my notes:)   Suffice it to say, the moods and images are so varied, that I figure better to let you frame your own inner world.  There is one track however, that simply unleashes such of avalanche of images in my brain, that I dare say --   Do not listen to this track under any kind of medication.  It was potent enough as is.   The #2 track -- Vision 1: A Shadow Falls on the Garden -- swells with lush, then LOUD even startling ambience.

I assume, given the title, fragrant opening and the discord that follows that this composition narrates the  Fall, the biblical idea that our once harmonious home was plunged into ruin.   

Dennis elaborates:

You might be interested to know that track 2 is actually the oldest material on the project - the basic keyboards, bass and guitar were recorded in 1993 with early digital gear. The image is of the fall, but not right away - at first you are hearing what I think the garden might of sounded like. The middle eastern vibe is reflective of the traditional site of Eden - modern day Iraq (between the Tigris and Euphrates). The fall shows up later when the guitar begins to sound like a chainsaw, a symbol in a sense of the curse of having to toil with the land. However even in our fallen condition God's presence remains and so there are still echoes of Eden at the end of the song. That's what I developed the song to mean for me, but like most art I think it can mean different things for different people. 

As is, I heard much differently.   I did hear a blooming Lotus flower from Eden, but then… quickly traded my vision of Eve for the Bride of Christ, which (and I am almost afraid to put this in type) I envision as a bare-breasted woman from India, beautifully adorned for her husband in jewels and psychedelic silks.  

Then comes the dread.  Rather than snake in the grass or expulsion from the garden, I heard the very majesty and jolting Horror of the throne of God.  That may sound confusing to some, who associate God with only rainbows and clouds, but as for me, I am prone to want to re-claim the words… Terrible and Awesome, even Horrible as sacred-dread words, for the very full glory of God.  This music put me in the feet of Ezekiel, as he peeks on the open door of heaven, trembling.


Quick Notes:Track 3 to 4:  seamless.  I could see the aural mist, even as it gathers into a rainbow...blows away in shattered butterflies...then deluge.

As for track 5:  LOUD. grungy. (This is where I see hurricanes and Orcs)

Track 7:  The Wilderness Path leads to the Mountain.

Addendum:  Given the centrality of the Earth in Dreams and Visions, I find I missed a vital theme.  Dennis offered this as we chatted about the story line.

The mountain is Calvary, the wilderness path is both the beginning of Jesus' ministry, when he was tempted in the wilderness as well as echoes of Isaiah's picture of the messiah and restoration of Israel coming through a path in the wilderness. Perhaps I was too obtuse in this poetic rendering. To me this track is actually the pinnacle of the project - both musically and thematically.

Oh, I also much liked track 8 with its speeding panthers and running gazelles. 

Or track ten (the final) with the title - The Radiant Abyss, Twelve Jewels and a Throne -  made me think of a huge jeweled amphitheater, with all the creatures of the world singing in unison - in the round.  Or something like that.   Modern anthropology traces the Human story to Africa.  Dennis goes full circle and closes the story line with robust African praise.

The recommendation:

Absolute.   Should I have any reservations it would be this. Dreams and Visions is sometimes brooding and erratic.  If you do not have an ear for dissonance, this is probably not your disk.

At the end of 2014 I picked my years favorite disks.  This would have made that list and more… but I listened late.  Now I add it to my list of best instrumental music in the history of the world.   

The small "c" creator:  

As mentioned before Dennis is a pastor… and a thinker and a writer.  You can follow him here on his Namesake blog, or his "thinking/worship/liturgical  blog"  (Mysterium) or listen to other tracks on his Sound Cloud site.

Final Final note:
Should I have any sadness, it is that music of this caliber is usually missed by the masses.   People who might connect with Dennis on a theological note, might not be willing to go with him distance as pertains to sound…and the world in general is hard place to market music, even when it is the best the planet has to offer.

Do a creative artist a favor, buy Dreams and Visions in some form… and share this review.  Thanks.