Watercolors By Mark Barnes

 

Watercolors

By

Mark Barnes

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

The music of Mark Barnes has been on my musical radar ever since 2008 and the album called Awakening, it’s amazing to think 16 years have passed, and now I have his latest release before me called Watercolors, and with each step on the musical ladder Marks compositions and collections have just got better and better with each passing measure.

This latest creation is totally blissful and offers the listener a multitude of peace-filled havens with which to find a musical sanctuary from, including the beautiful opening piece Watercolors, the title track, and how pleasing it is to see this bright and colourful narrative as the opening offering on the album.

Watercolors is a 12 track album filled full of textures and soothing manifestations, a veritable tapestry of calm can be found here, like the explorative  Holston Valley Days, or the charming refrains and reveries of Water Lily, or perhaps even the romantic touch of the track Poetry in Motion.

This whole album reminds me of some of the classic keyboard based new age manifestations from the 1990’s; such fond memories can still be found there. One of my favourites here is a track that was released as single early on this year in While the Forest Sleeps, a dramatic fluent and moving opus of sound, and such a profound melody as well, and it can all be found on this stunning offering.

Mark has been touching some amazing melodious arrangements lately, tracks like Under the Sea, a gentle and pristine tale told by a delicate keyboard motif, or, and here we go again so please excuse me, another favourite of mine in House by the Sea, this one is perhaps personal as we live in a house near the sea, and every morning I wake to watch its lapis oceanic qualities drift across the horizon, this I rate to be one of the most attractive tracks that Mark has ever created.

The tones alter with this next piece called Seasons Change, we’re heading that way now as we reach the middle of August, and my favourite season of autumn will soon be upon us. There is a memory tinged aspect to this track that is so pleasing, it is as if we are literally watching the season move from one state to another through the music.

Next is a composition paying homage to French artist and Impressionist Claude Monet, also one of my favourites to gaze upon, the smoothness of this manifestation was lush, clear, and amazingly coloured in all aspects of tone and timbre, this is without doubt a track that its contents are so palpable you could literally touch it.

As Édouard Manet once said “Still life is the touchstone of painting” if that be so, then this track from Mark must be the soundtrack for that genre of art, this track is so expressive, so charming, and one has to adore the change in tempo, the softness of touch, and the tapestry of calm it provides the listener.

I remember Don McLean once singing about Van Gogh, here Barnes takes that further and delivers one of the nicest tributes to the great painter I have heard, with a slight dramatic flair, a touch of style and elegance, and a melody that will hold a moment tight and never let it go on the track Vincent, our penultimate offering from the album.

I love what Mark has done here musically, bringing our attention to art through his art of music, and he has done it so well. Mark Barnes is without doubt an accomplished instrumentalist that seems to grow in stature musically with each passing album and each passing year, and I have a feeling that Watercolors could well be another huge hit album for the artist and deservedly so.