The Journey
By
David J. Peña
Written by
Steve Sheppard
The mood filled opuses of David J. Peña are truly something to behold, it is a rare musical
commodity to have, that wonderful ability to paint with music and to do so with
such emotion and power. David J. Peña
is a master of his craft and his latest album The Journey is a veritable art gallery of tone, splendour and
passion.
His opening foray entitled The Sun Will Rise Again has to be one of the most inspiring and
uplifting piano creations I have heard this year, we all need a little lift now
and then, and this song should be an anthem for those moments, his performance
on piano is nothing more than a sparkling pastiche of sublime genius, and
simply the perfect way with which to start the album.
Kaleidoscope is our next port of call and we have
yet another full flowing manifestation to enjoy here, the symphonic back drop
in a majority of the artists’ works are perfection; here on this piece he
brings into the world a musical narrative that is both memorable and tender, and
that little extra percussive energy just elevated the composition even further.
This next piece is a beautiful dedication and called Tribute to W. Tx Pianist Doug Smith.
There is a gentle energy that runs through this piece that makes it so very
attractive, this is one of those arrangements that whilst moving in its
manifestation, is also fairly anthem like in its overall construction.
One of the most emotional tracks on this blissful new release
is the following composition entitled You
Took My Heart With You, this has many elements within its creation, but the
melody that runs through this song is one of the most emotive I have heard for
a while, the artist pulls this piece from the deepest labyrinths of his heart,
and for some reason at times it also reminds me of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, this is simply a
composition of sublime quality, soundtrack music with ease.
This classy album is a 10 track compilation of brilliance and
nestled at the midway point is the title header itself. The Journey proposes many questions, as we each have our own
journey’s to take, but somehow Peña seems to have created a soundtrack for each
and every one of them. I found this piece to be incredibly personal, very
powerful and incredibly inspiring.
The curiously entitled Eerie
Night is now upon us, the dark days of winter have now fallen and storms
rage outside my window, and yes, I have just set the scene for this track in my
world. The performance is grand, but deeply mysterious, and the fluency of this
creation simply draws me into a realm of perhaps a Poe styled reality, “Take
thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door, quoth the Raven
Nevermore."
Now by complete contrast we move to a wonderfully upbeat and
vibrant track entitled Good Feeling,
and this song truly manifests that mood with a sumptuous ease, the elevated
performance builds an energy of positivity around us, and this driving ever
onward piano narrative with its added orchestration, is just the musical cure
to blow away those previously aforementioned winter blues.
From my earliest memories, I have always liked to gaze
upwards into the night sky in great and grateful wonderment at the view, here
on Stargazing the artist brings one
of his most colourful creations to our musical table, just listen to the
delicacy of performance, the fluency of composition, and the overwhelming sense
of joy contained within, this for me has to be one of Peña’s best creations thus far, there
is so much within this arrangement, it would be advisable to take a multitude
of listens to it, just to enjoy each and every nuance.
The light and crisp presentation on the track New Beginnings, whilst listening, I
could see the first few buds of spring poke their heads above the layers of a
receding snowline, this creation has many levels in it, and also many moods to,
the gentleness retains its centre point, but juxtaposes brilliantly with the
more powerful segments, in what must be Peña’s most creative work thus far.
The release is concluded with a fine manifestation called Breakout, a song that in its initial
stages, you will find yourself literally waiting for it to explode, and being
the ever masterful creator of sublime piano works, David J. Peña gives you that moment, but in a measured and climatic
way, with just the right amount of build progression and crescendo. At just
over the half way mark there is no returning, and the artist brings you a
driving rock ballad to finish the project with, in a way that even Elton John would have been proud of.
The Journey by David J. Peña in my view is the best work of the artist thus far,
David has given us everything here, mind, body and soul, he has touched the
sensitive nature of our hearts, raised our heads for a better day with a
beautiful energy of inspiration, intrigued us with a moment of mystery, and
completely rocked it up to conclude what is an outstanding release, how can
anyone not have an album this good in their collections, it’s a must have at
all costs.
No comments:
Post a Comment