duggup

Artist: Bill Canty
Website: billcanty.com/
Track Name: Elysian Peace – Part 12
Playback: mp3
Download?: Yes

Disclaimer:I have known Bill for what seems like forever, he and I have played in the odd band or two over the years and he is genuinely one of the best musicians I know. He also played keyboards on Bland’s musical endeavours.

This is bit like “Sunday Samples”, Bill has chosen not to put a full track up on his website but rather a handful of 2 minute samples so that you get a taste of the whole piece. Now I’ll be honest folks, I have waited to hear an album of Bill’s music for a long, long time. And now it’s here. So was it worth the wait? Well yes and no.

The yes is that the music has been genuinely sweated over, this thing is a perfectionists dream. As usual I am fascinated by the textures he has chosen and his piano playing in Part 12 is just gorgeous. Some of it is just so subtle and delicate that you wonder how on earth he did it.

The no would be that a relaxation album isn’t really all that useful to me, (120BPM is my “slow” speed) but I think that Bill’s work transcends the genre, I have listened to way too many “Celtic New Age” albums of late and Elysian Peace exhibits none of the “cookie cutter” cliches that you will find over and over again. To me this is more like Ulrich Schnauss or Enigma’s work, in that you can engage with it and let it take you for a walk down the garden path or just have it in the background and mentally pop in every now and then to see how it’s all going. OK it doesn’t have a “Return To The Innocence” or drums but I am sure that will be fixed on the next album?.

Here is some hype from the site…

Beneath its apparent simplicity is a carefully structured and crafted composition.
The work is skillfully produced with computers and synthesizers, using a variety of acoustic, orchestral and synthesized sounds. A main melody and other musical ideas recur throughout the piece, reappearing with different instruments, textures, tempos and keys, providing both familiarity and variation.

Bill also had two tracks on the fan produced Jarre Tribute album “Jarre Forever” back in 2002 www.folkvord.net/jarretribute/index.htm

Have a listen to Elysian Peace – Part 3, a pretty spiffy piece of work as well with some guitars and “enyaesque vocal washes” and you can find a few more samples at cdbaby.com/cd/billcanty amd you can buy an album from there as well (if you are in Australia check out Bills website)

thatch is fascinated by guitars, music, guitars, production, silly noises, guitars and used to be a musician. Did I mention the thing about the guitars?
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