Promise of Love By Alan Hanslik

Promise of Love

By

Alan Hanslik

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

I felt a certain calmness of spirit trickle over the cadence of the day, and felt in need of some blissful new age vibes to complete my eager bliss, I got this in plenitude via a brilliant new album by Alan Hanslik, with his latest release entitled Promise of Love.

Now it’s not that often that you see an artist place the longest track off the release to start the musical journey, but I am very glad Hanslik made that choice, as the title offering Promise of Love is literally idyllic and a perfect place to begin, its warm motifs and reveries washed over me to set the scene for an absolutely beautiful musical sojourn.

You will utterly revel in this album; the heart felt sereneness of this next piece is a fine example, and called The Hope. Please enjoy the textures here; they are multi layered in a soft temperate style. This is the type of music I could listen too on repeat for hours, the headphone effects and change in tempo and structure at the midway point was cleverly done, to leave us still floating on a cloud of musical peace.

This album is a veritable soundtrack of tones and textures, mixing long form and short, and as we traverse the offering Home we are gifted a composition that seems to create its own musical narrative as it goes, the structure of the keyboards here are magnificent and there is also a slow sense of movement deep within the weave of this nine plus minute arrangement that is undeniably clever.

The story continues with this next composition entitled Anticipation, this is something that Hanslik has built up beautifully so far on the album. We have a little sharper sound here to enjoy through the refrains of this fascinating piece, the keyboards and synths bring us a real sense of an excitement building through this enthralling musical narrative.

As we edge towards the half way juncture we come across an arrangement called She's Not There. There can be now found in this offering a feeling of apprehension or concern for the first time on the album, the title probably explains all, has our hero been stood up? However this gives the artist plenty of time to manifest a whole realm of classy ambient music for us to reflect with, the build and progression here by the artist is also wonderfully executed on this quite deep, but colourful composition.

We now arrive at the half way marker, and to usher this change in we are given a short but memorable offering entitled Turnaround. The electronic flavours here are delicious and offer a total change of energy, the bass and keyboards seem to be manifesting a reality of confidence and positivity that seems to be building.

The Shift continues the theme of the previous offering; Hanslik is now in full flow with the more electronic energies that revolve within this arrangement. That manifestation is beautifully crafted and through the music we can feel a sense of creation occurring, something new and exciting, check out the smooth and chilled shift, making its announcement at the half way juncture of the piece with a lush percussive beat, in a truly magical style.

Rebound is up next and offers us all a doorway to some of the most creative ambient and instrumental music I have heard for some time, with elements even of Steve Hillage’s Rainbow Dome Music in the mix for me too. This was a masterful composition, that to be honest, I had a hard time moving on from.

We should all dedicate a little time to Reflection. This allows us to gaze over our journey thus far and make any alterations needed, and to learn perhaps from any mistakes. Hanslik’s gentle touch on the keys here is much appreciated and once more reminded me in style of another ambient artist I know called Laraaji.

So we have arrived at the penultimate portal to the album, it is entitled Rendezvous, the sensual soft tones of this track are sumptuous and utterly encapsulating, it is hard not to just drift away to its subtle inevitabilities. The keyboard was carefully played to give the listener maximum enjoyment on this continued voyage of musical plenty. The arrangement was also cleverly worked, and as a listener, one had to do so intently so as not to miss a single nuance.

So we finish with the happiness felt from the last track off the album, and of course entitled Promise of Love Medley, there is something in here for everyone, and something from the entire album for us all to enjoy, this is absolutely the perfect way to sum up the entire concept of the release, leaving the listener full filled and happy.

Promise of Love by Alan Hanslik is a wonderful work of art, a sound track for a silent movie and something so calming and serene one could use its lovely contents for many reasons. The artist has manifested something of natural outstanding beauty with this release, and I know I shall be playing it for many days to come, which makes it quite easy for me to give it a big thumbs up, and without reservation recommend this beautiful collection of creations to you.