My Secret Heart 20th
Anniversary Expanded Edition
By
Michael Whalen
Written by
Steve Sheppard
Michael Whalen has been on my musical radar now for
quite a while, I first came across him as a British radio host back in 2015 and
through the medium of his album from that year entitled You Are My Home, my journey through Whalen’s tonal universe thus
began, today some 10 years later, the re-release of one of his greatest works
is upon us called My Secret Heart 20th
Anniversary Expanded Edition, a compilation that was strangely released 10
years before I personally came across the artist in 2005.
One must say that this whole album hits the ambient spot with
a gentle caress, in only the way a truly good ambient album can. Track one is
the most important place to start and called I Have Loved You for a Thousand Lifetimes, on this master work by
Whalen you will find two versions of this, both the original and the latest version;
both are outstandingly beautiful, and deeply heartfelt.
Upon this catalogue of calm and tranquillity, the listener
will find soothing gems that will take them into a paradise like oasis of
sound, offerings like Two As One,
which float with a similar resonance to the one of the all-time masters of
ambient music in Harold Budd. Whilst
offerings like Moonglow offer up the
same mystical sense of wonder that Kevin
Kendle did back in 1995 with his melodic structure called Moonset.
I can completely understand why this has been a massive hit
for the artist, there is everything to like and love about its delicious
contents, its ambience is literally timeless, akin to the sparkling resonance
of tracks like Light. Stars. Love.
or the fluent stream of consciousness entitled Dance Of Two Souls.
It can be very easy to get lost within this album, and to be
honest in these days of craziness that’s perhaps not a bad thing to have
happen, the conciliatory offerings of a piece like the soothing vibrancy of When We Loved is a prime example of a
cathartic healing journey of musical sound, leaving the conclusion to the
composition entitled Whispers, which
will draw to a close our bliss filled harmonious voyage.
These sensitive creative and artistic piano ambiences
certainly reverberated perfectly in my personal sonic temple as I hope they
will with you to, Whalen has brought to our attention his skill set as an
ambient performer and done it in such a way that we will never ever forget this
gorgeous gift of timeless music, and thus the release simply deserves to be a
chart topping award winning album, and given all the love and respect it most
certainly deserves, one can only hope that musical aficionados the world over
will seek out and hug closely My Secret
Heart 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition by Michael Whalen.
Check this link to find the album: https://tr.ee/-p9Neuf8Kx
Why not check out these links on YouTube for these two tracks:
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