The Shelter Point By Javier Márquez

 

The Shelter Point

By

Javier Márquez

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

There are sometimes, when you just know you are going to enjoy an album from the very first note played, that was the case today with the latest release from Javier Márquez entitled The Shelter Point.

From the very first note, we would be off on a journey of magnificence, and as an example of this crafted and creative intelligence we begin with a track called Around the autumn equinox, a piece that would exemplify the perfection in the art of build and progression within music.

The Celtic influences within the piece Childhood melodies were strong. The mixture of woodwind instrumentation, and piano here were quite charming and full flowing, and the smooth performance made this a really easy offering to listen to and enjoy.

Solace would be one of my favourites off the album, the pondering backdrop of sound created a stasis of tone that seemed to hover all around, without once invading the musical space created, by such a hand of genius. This is Neo Classical music at its very best, and those delicious added strings added even more emotion to the creation.

On Beyond Days, there is a wonderfully caring touch given to the arrangement that is much appreciated by the listener. The delicacy on the keys and the added guitar, manifested for me one of the most pristine pieces off the album, and a fine example of contemporary instrumental music as you’re ever likely to hear.

As we arrive at the midway point we have a smart and colourful short form reverie entitled Milenaria y nazarí, to sedge way us perfectly into the second half of the album, and that piece would be Through the wind, another great example of onward movement and progression in composition, and a track that raises the energies of the moment with a fine percussive beat, surrounded by a lush and colourful multi-instrumental countryside of musical tone and timbre.

The mood is calmed for this next piece entitled Bedouin. The Middle Eastern ethic is amazingly powerful, and I should know as I live on the island of Cyprus. We celebrate and enjoy many woodwind instruments here within many of our local and traditional music culture, so the Duduk and Bansuri are well known in this part of the world. The symphonic backdrop is quite stunning and at times quite alluring and sensual, and in my view this creation is a sublime example of really good atmospheric music.

Huellas de un pasado is another favourite of mine, the field recordings are something similar to ones I have captured from the villages in the mountains here, and are quite breathtakingly beautiful and scene setting, as is this piece. This is without doubt my personal favourite off the album, the progression, build and crescendos are timed to perfection, to give us an emotionally radiant feeling of utter bliss and empowerment, the vocalisations are also a wonderfully attractive addition to a track that is purely magical.

The penultimate offering is entitled Incessant. I found that here lies a piece of tranquillity and ambience, a composition that floated across the musical landscape like a willing summer cloud in later August. The multi-instrumental nature and especially the woodwind energies, manifested a wonderful sense of permanence of onward movement, and a colourful musical tapestry that just continued to grow and grow.

I think we all have one of these, I know I do, for me it’s my sanctuary, but the title track, and the name of this most amazing compilations of great tracks works for me; The Shelter Point is a manifestation of somewhere music can take you, that you no longer feel overwhelmed by the world and all that is in it.

The Shelter Point is a crafted collection of ten tracks, highlighting moments of musical reverie in a multi instrumental dimension, where woodwinds dance symbiotically with the piano, swing with the guitar and caress the movement found within with the percussion. The Shelter Point by Javier Márquez is an album that is a rich and emotive manifestation of compositional brilliance, and a melodic magnificence of a creative genius, all rolled into one.