Eternity II By John Lyell

 

Eternity II

By

John Lyell

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

There comes a time, not very often it has to be said, but there does come a time when you are asked to review an album and as soon as you hit play to start, you are just taken to a whole new level buy the contents contained within, and you can honestly rate what you are listening to as some one of the best music you have listened to in a specific genre for a long time.

With Eternity II that delightful occurrence has just happened, this is the new super ambient work by artist John Lyell, and it simply some of the best work I would say I have listened to this century with utter ease.

We can start this divine journey with the opening piece called When The World Was New, a sublime pastiche of soft synths and natural sounds, the combination of tone and timbre here remind me in part to David Naegeles 1982 masterpiece Temple in the Forest, this meditative creation is one of the best starting tracks I have heard this year from an ambient artist with ease.

From that amazing starting point we float into the welcoming arms of A Moment In Time, another gentle stream pours its ambience across the furrowed brow of our needy senses, and once more we can be set adrift on a sea of unearthly keyboards and soft synths, this takes the previous composition to a whole new level, and leaves the listener in a total state of tranquillity.

There are very few albums that make it onto my personal streaming list, but this is most certainly going to be added later today, and Gateway to the Stars will be one that I will drift on harmoniously in a timeless reverie with, the melodious ethereal sounds that emanate from Lyell’s synths and keyboards are utterly peace driven and serene at all times, this is the style that gave the UK’s Kevin Kendle so much success with as his alter ego Aetherium.

We now move into the realm of long form as we encounter a deeper arrangement, one that holds a minimalistic energy and entwines it with the vibration of a timeless portal of a shadow world, in the title track Eternity II, this is a brilliant example of electronic ambient music at its very best, and similar tones and moods to a certain Brian Eno and the On Land album can be found here too, but both brighter and warmer.

We move to our penultimate offering and this bed of brilliance is entitled Observatory, a universal mood can be found within the tonal touches of this classy composition, once more the tempo is perfection, with those mood filled synths swirling and manifesting a far ranging and vast arrangement that we as willing listeners will be more than happy to explore.

The concluding piece is Final Approach, the fine presentation of synth and keyboard work here is worth noting and enjoying, this ending offering is sublime, a textured composition that every little nuance is enjoyed and is also simply breath taking. This cogent and wonderfully constructed creation completes one of the best ambient music voyages I have had for utterly decades.

Eternity II by John Lyell has to be one of the best albums of any genre I have had to pleasure to listen to and review this year, from its first note, to its last, magic is created. I have no problem stating that Eternity II by John Lyell doesn’t just deserve to make a big splash in the charts, it deserves to reap the benefits of winning an award, this my friends is what really good ambient music should sound like, grab a copy now!