Ancient World By David De Michele

 

Ancient World

By

David De Michele

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

Speaking with my musician’s hat on, it is sometimes good to spread your wings and try something different, and on Ancient World David De Michele the artist most certainly does that, whilst retaining some of the core components of space David along the way, on this new release which is a veritable configuration of both new age with Celtic motifs.

This eight track collection of perfectly produced music starts with an illuminating first offering entitled Forest Whispers, a charming scene setting opus that takes us right there in the ever green woodlands, a place I have always called home. A tentative and sensitive opening builds perfectly, and added to this cornucopia of new age delights, the artist adds some of the cleanest and most crisp vocals to enhance the composition even further.

The main body of any album is usually the title track, and here on Ancient World we have a dramatic yet textured arrangement that contains a moving backdrop of synths and sounds, one that literally hovers through the aforementioned forest like mist on a late autumn afternoon. The intensity, build and progression on keyboards here is something to behold.

The journey continues with Beyond the Ruins, a piece that contains an onward sense of movement and fluency, a musical journey literally brought to life. The soft pastiche of synths and steady keyboard work symbiotically laced with ethereal vocalisations, gifts us an arrangement completely bathed in the ancient energies of past civilisations themselves.

On our journey we have seen and heard many things, here on Call of the Ancients, we hear the sound of distant voices and horns, in an anticipatory moment of musical magic, that in its early inception reminded me of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds opening forays, the build-up, dramatic overtones entwined with expectancy, would allow me to say without doubt that this offering would be my personal favourite from the album.

In all its glory this next track explores the oneness and balance of humanity and nature and respect, something that is all too rare these days. Celebration is just that, an uplifting narrative that floats on the winds of the eons with utter ease. Whilst to my happiness a sound of a storm starts the next piece called Enchanted Forest, this splendid piece contains a multitude of varied keyboard works and a beautiful Celtic styled vocal, to enhance the vista of this gigantic forest and all in it that surrounds us now.

We have arrived at a doorway in an a huge tree that has stood for many ages, and as we creak open its entrance we hear the penultimate offering of the album entitled Isles in the Mist. Light flute sounds, combined with harp lead our way through this passage of time and timbre; this is a classic new age styled offering that would have gone down so wonderfully in the early part of this century, in a genre that is once again making a massive comeback.

We can now conclude the album with the final offering entitled The Journey Home. Once more David utilises the superior vocals and harp sounds, to manifest a pitch perfect ending to the release, in this final manifestation we feel utterly wonderful, textured keyboard motifs and blissfully layered synths, all cumulate to create one of the finest concluding pieces that the artist has ever created.

Ancient World by David De Michele is a step in a direction that the artist will be more than happy he embraced, he has moved solidly to the natural world, in a vast green woodland, and produced a new age styled collection of splendid music that could well define a dualistic voyage of direction for the composer and his future, this is a very classy release, one that needs to be enjoyed by all who truly appreciate truly good full flowing music.