Orient To Occident By Joe Weineck

 

Orient To Occident

By

Joe Weineck

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

If music was food, this album by Joe Weineck entitled Orient To Occident, would be full in flavour, with a rich tapestry of world aromas, and seasoned perfectly to attract all who would wonder by. This is just the sort of album that inspired me in the late 90’s, and the early part of the century, and from such artists as Phil Thornton and Lesiem.

This sublime new 15 track release of wondrous textures and colours is an album to be revisited many times over, with a start so powerful and attractive in the title track itself Orient To Occident, a more rhythmic entity at the start of an album you simply will not find.

The entire release is a fluent and veritable basket of talented tones, ones that reflect the nature of a myriad of subjects including locations, an example of this can be found on the laid back, chilled vibe California; flowing keyboards can be found here, ones that manifest a perfect driving song.

A more chilled touch can be felt and heard on pieces like the light jazzy offering of Leaves In Sunlight, a smooth consistency and a laid back progression with some absolutely delightful symbiotic performances on both keyboards and guitar, whilst offerings like A Day In Spain give us that sun kissed Mediterranean feel, with a creative, passionate percussion and pulsating beat.

This album is packed with ripe fruits of musical class; the penultimate offering is a brilliantly fascinating one, a rock guitar, a rhythm from the Middle East and a back drop of sound that could well drift across from the Sahara desert itself, on Oriental Elevator.

While we can conclude this quite breath taking release with a piece entitled Sonic Forrest, and at eight minutes the longest creation from the album. Hovering synths are joined in this slow build and progression by a vibrant electronic beat, that build up an amazing level on anticipation and excitement, on one of the best finishing, and most creative compositions I have heard for quite some time.

Orient To Occident by Joe Weineck is indeed an album everyone should give a listen to, it’s a release that truly does take you on a journey and refuses to let you go until this voyage of plenty is concluded. Here is an album of a true multi-instrumentational nature, and one not afraid to cross boundaries, borders and genres at a whim. Orient To Occident by Joe Weineck is a sublime manifestation of colourful and influential instrumental music, that all listeners should have in their collections at all costs, miss this one, and you have missed a total gem.