In The Moonlight By Thomas Green

 

In The Moonlight

By

Thomas Green

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

It was so good to see an album on my desktop from Thomas Green; I have very fond memories from his last release Flutin Around back in 2019, but here is the master of chilled and cheerful flute back with another blissful collection of crisp and happy melodies, yes its Thomas Green and his new offering to us all, In The Moonlight.

The first offering is a simple melody and a cheer filled vibe of Thomas’s interpretation of his transition to his moment of paradise. There is nothing demanding about this manifestation, there is everything to like about it, and the title reflects the artist’s thoughts simply and honestly and called, On the Way to Heaven.

I want to keep this review light as well; I am in need of a little bliss and harmony, so no need to gaze any further than Green’s next piece Afterglow. In the creation of this track Thomas created a part for his son, a prolific whistler apparently; the effect was rather magical and sounds in perfect harmony with Greens magical flute.

We now move to a sultry number called In the Moonlight in which a combination of flute and percussion builds upon a foundation of a smooth chilled vibe, this would be one of my personal favourites from the album, and if there were one piece to select as a possible single from the release, it would be this composition I would point to.

I was taken back by this next piece, as the first few opening bars reminded me of my last single release, so hats off to Thomas Green for employing a similar chilled musical narrative on this next arrangement, Saying I Do. The artist uses a low and high flute to represent the bride and groom in a song that is utterly sincere and heart felt, and apparently one that uses real church bells in its arrangement as well.

Now, here is a tale, this next track come from one of our all-time holiday movies The Wizard of Oz. I think I must have watched it some 50 times now, here Thomas Green gifts us his rendition of this all-time classic Over The Rainbow, and will bring chills all over your body it’s that good, I think that this is also the first time I have heard this song performed on flute too.

One of the moodiest creations from the album would come in the guise of this next manifestation entitled A Cry for the Ancients, this song is a composition for flute purists, each and all animal sounds and animalistic cries were made by Native American flutes, and the piece does indeed contain a wonderfully fluent and addictive indigenous sound to it, which in my view is one of the best performances by the artist on the album.

Mother's Call is utterly beautiful, with ease we could be in a deep dark forest as the early hours of the morning creep through the rafters of the trees, and through natures abundance we hear the call of nature cry out to its young, we cannot tell what creature this is, but its mystical nature hovers like a mist over a summer lake. A fine synth backdrop can be found here, and one of the most mysterious and mystical presentation by Green resides ever.

It’s now time to say Goodnight. This next blissfully serene composition is called just that, and is a perfect musical description of an end of a day, the weariness of sleep crawls over our bodies, and it’s time to roll over to our loved one, and appreciate a kiss goodnight before dropping off into dreamland, something I love to do each and every night. Here Green manifests a twinkling of ambience and calm with such consummate ease.

One of the first rock songs I learned to play on guitar was the opening to this next inclusion on the album, and called House of the Rising Sun, originally a folk song, but most who remember it, will remember the Animals version recorded in ‘64. This is a classy interpretation from Green on flute; he also uses the organ and guitar to back up his arrangement as well.

Our penultimate creation is Beneath the Blue Moon, this last but one offering is also one of my personal favourites too, it had such an easy way about its construction and nature, one could with ease just be laying out in the night sky, gazing up at the cosmos to this tune, at just past the half way juncture there is also a truly noteworthy interplay between the major and minor, in the song that brings one of the most beautiful creations on this new release to the fore.

Cappadocia is our last composition; the location of this track is but a few miles north of my current location of Cyprus, here Thomas incorporates a Middle Eastern feel into the music and adds a Native American flute into the weave, for one of the most inventive and artistic tracks off the album.

 In The Moonlight by Thomas Green is the breath of fresh air the flute genre needed right now, this uplifting new album is jam packed with interesting and exciting new styles and compositions, and should be a first choice for any avid listeners of flute with added instrumentation.

Here is something I don’t say lightly, but with the energy, fluency, style and intelligence that Green has created and used here, I have a feeling that the artist could well be looking at a number one album in the weeks ahead for, In the Moonlight by Thomas Green.