Break of Dawn By Ricky Kej

 

Break of Dawn

By

Ricky Kej

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

As the year draws to a close, it is with glee that I end this season with the latest album by 3 time Grammy winner Ricky Kej on my music player, and even more abundant joy as I get to review and give my thoughts on this new breath taking release. As expected Kej brings his A game to the table, and rounds 2024 off with a remarkable new collection of great songs called Break Of Dawn.

The opening piece is fantastic in all its glory, and it is without doubt a total pleasure to see a nine plus minute track as the opener, in these days of micro compositions. Blue Dream though is an opus of grandeur and style, one that utilises the sublime skill set of flautist Ron Korb, and brings forth a stunning composition that will fill you with rising passion.

Break of Dawn is a delightfully colourful and textured release of 9 simply divine songs, like the eastern motifs of track 3 called Spiritual Love. One could with ease imagine a temple in the forest with vines trailing in all directions, as a plethora of birds flutter from the sun kissed trees. This was a splendid example of magical instrumentational music, with added contributions from Manoj George on violin and Ravichandra Kulur on flute among others.

The album is a veritable “weaveworld” of musical layers, sublime touches, mood filled qualities of global surfaces, all coalescing into a pastiche of class and brilliance. Tracks like the rhythmic Moment of Bliss will highlight that aforementioned statement, whilst pieces like Awakened Hope featuring the amazing vocals of Siddhartha Belmannu deliver us into a dimension of sight and sound that is so wonderfully palpable.

The penultimate track off the release is entitled Embers of Time; here composer Kej has arranged this composition so perfectly, that we fall into a graceful oasis of tranquillity via its tone and timbre, and the performance of both Varijashree Venugopal on flute, and the vocals of Gopu Krishnan manifest an ancient energy within the music that is so profound and tangible.

Why not indeed conclude the album with an arrangement called Euphoria, the build and progression here is beyond stunning, and the voice of Sheila Samuel shone like a beacon in the night sky, this was without a shadow of a doubt the most perfect way possible to leave an album of this sublime nature.

Break of Dawn by Ricky Kej is simply spectacular, it’s exquisite production doubly so, whilst the magnificent performances from each musician on the release deserves a large and loud round of applause. Here is an album that should appease fans of both the artist, and those of the global fusion genre with ease, award worthy no doubt, and surely a massive chart hit for Break of Dawn by Ricky Kej is on its way.