A Promise Of Eternity By Jim Ottaway

 

A Promise Of Eternity

By

Jim Ottaway

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

Jim Ottaway has been an electronic musician that has been on my personal musical radar for some 18 years and the album Aurora, since that time his manifestations have always been explorative, fascinating journeys of sonic sound and colourful textures of electronic mastery, and we’re about to go on another voyage today with the release of his latest album entitled A Promise Of Eternity.

The forest of musical manifestation with Jim is always one of countless bounty; take the opening track for example entitled Path of Destiny. Here is a track that tempts the listener to join him on the trek with a gentle opening, but one that seems to slowly grow and expand whilst doing so, one that reminded me of an old friend of mine in Geigertek back in the early part of this century.

The artist has quite a palate of musical paints with which to choose from, his knowledge and wisdom over the years have allowed him such a wide array of tones and vibrations to work with, enjoy the higher levels of such on this quality composition that arrives next and called Shadow Dreams, the deft percussive element in this piece adds weight to an already pristine arrangement.

A charming musical narrative can be found on this next offering entitled Light Dawns (Reimagined), a mixture of Jean Michel Jarre and refrains from what used to be called the chill out genre can be found here on this most delectable composition. Whilst an emotive and inspiring reverie will be located upon this next manifestation called Horizons Beyond, this one is a bit special, its percussive tangents bring us a fine example of electronic music of the highest quality, and reminded me greatly of Norway’s Glenn Main.

The up-tempo and fast paced creation called The Edge of Knowing is up next and is nestled beautiful in the mid-way half of the album. The repetitive keyboards build on a progression that is always about to explode into action, the inclusion of a more solid drum beat continues the onward movement of the offering, with a crafted and clever intent that is utterly sublime.

The fulcrum is reached within the refrains of the track Days without Yesterdays.  The synths here are symbiotically partnered with sumptuous keyboards and a deft and delicate percussive element, while on Dancing in Shadow and Light we have a light and incredible appealing composition that will lift the energies of the listener with ease At times this reminded me of David Wright and his track, The Sound of Waves.

The technical aspects of Jim’s albums are always a pleasure to note, his skill set on performance doubly so, and on Once Forever we see that combined perfectly in a piece that swirls with an intent, and then is added to in a perfect example of build and progression within a compositional structure.

The upbeat Whispers of the Soul is next on the check list of our musical voyage of plenty, this one is pretty unique, as there is a clear global and world music vibe contained within this tribally rhythmic composition, one that has a smooth bass line as well, whilst on This Fleeting World Ottaway produces one of the finest example of electronic music, with a Berlin styled opus that flourishes with great style and fluency.

So we are here at the title track of the album, this has to be one of my personal all-time favourites from the artist in A Promise Of Eternity. The crisp tones and the natural timbre of the performance are simply beautiful, and perhaps a touch of early Vangelis can be found within the heart of the construction as well, a stunning reverie indeed.

The concluding piece is called Light Dawns is also a spectacular offering, a grand opening akin and redolent of the subject matter, flowing synths abound like the mist hovering across the Elysian fields, and we have the perfect final parting musical gift from Ottaway.

A Promise Of Eternity by Jim Ottaway is an impressive collection of 12 very crafted and well-presented electronic music compositions, even so, each song, each piece, has something a little different contained within, each composition has a journey and a tale to tell all of its own.

Here is an album not afraid to cross musical boundaries, not fearful of changing tempo and style, in short I believe Jim Ottaway has gone for it here on A Promise Of Eternity, and it’s worked brilliantly, with that in mind, you should really avail yourself of a copy of this album as soon as you can, music of this quality does not come around that often.