S.W.A.N. Spiritual Wisdom Awakens Nature (Re-Issue) By Fred Grenot

 

S.W.A.N. Spiritual Wisdom Awakens Nature (Re-Issue)

By

Fred Grenot

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

This has to be one of the most fascinating reviews I have written for a long while, as back in 2015 or was it 16, I reviewed this album for the artist, and here some 7 years or so later I’m doing it again. Let me try to explain in brief, Fred Grenot used to be a presenter of OWMR back in 2015, and for personal reasons disappeared completely from our lives and also musically for over seven years, but now his back, he has once again joined our ranks, and now I am reviewing his music with seven more years’ experience, and of course being a musician myself, so let’s take a journey with S.W.A.N. right now.

My first observation of this re issue is just how beautiful it is, I must be honest I had forgotten just how musically attractive this album was and indeed is. The opening opus is called Ebb and Flow and just this morning I have listened to this wonderful track six times, its progression and style is very early New Age in construction, Grenot’s soft keyboard pastiches and textures remind me of the golden age of the genre, and this remarkable piece would make an excellent single, something else that wasn’t around seven years ago.

S.W.A.N means Spiritual Wisdom Awakens Nature, and tracks like Calmness, and its very gentle refrains give us a natural quality to the music, one would find it so easy to listen to this whilst sitting in a sunlit meadow next to a stream, just wallowing in the moment to this piece, then there are moments that are penned from alternate experiences like Dark Night of the Soul, a composition that contains elements of fear and trepidation within, bathed in a mysterious backwash of sound.

This 9 track release is simply pure bliss, it didn’t just take me back to my evolving days of 2016, I found Fred’s compositions, and especially this one entitled Swan, took me back to the late 90’s, when I was just starting out as a radio host, and playing artists like Phil Thornton, Mike Rowland and Llewellyn, this is a magical musical melange of music, a bliss filled repose into a world of serenity.

The final offering on the album really took me back in time, as the artist concludes this journey with the final track entitled Letting Go. This has to be the most important aspect to a happy and healthy life, hold close that which makes you happy, let go of that which or those who hold you back and create negativity. The chimes in this last track mixed with the crafted keyboard structure are simply magical, I humbly could not think of a better way with which to leave the album, a release that is so very wonderful to connect to again.

S.W.A.N. Spiritual Wisdom Awakens Nature (Re-Issue) by Fred Grenot is classic new age music, the genre has really missed quality albums like this over the years, and with the re-issue of this album I can see it being a spark that will further ignite the slow climb back to top of the mountain for the genre, and it is of course an absolute must release for your ever expanding musical collections, it’s so good to have Fred Grenot back in our lives again, and the global music scene will be all the better for it.