Sonic Bloom By Wayne Bethanis

 

Sonic Bloom

By

Wayne Bethanis

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

The pianist and composer Wayne Bethanis has been on somewhat of a musical journey of grandeur now for many years, I first came across the artist some 10 years ago, via a single called Reverie – Debussy, and since then album after album, composition after composition, has flowed from the colourful pen of the composer, eventually cumulating into what sits before me now, a project called Sonic Bloom, perhaps his latest and easily his grandest musical adventure yet.

Wayne’s beginning opus is as grand as they get, but this important manifestation is an incredibly meaningful one, a piece that lifts the down trodden spirit and gives it the one thing we all need right now hope, the soft passages by Bethanis allow for a layer of confidence to build upon a choir of resonant passion, for one of the most special opening tracks you are ever likely to find on, We Will Rise Once More.

Don't Look Back (The World is Changing) is a very relevant piece for this very moment in our globes history, with chaos abounding from just about everywhere, it seems to me that a shift to a very different world is occurring, as to exactly where that will lead I am not even sure, however Bethanis ushers in this brave new world with another powerful creation, where we can only stay strong and keep moving forward to face what is to come.

I have now listened to this piece entitled You Know I Will Remember You (Room 112) several times, and I will be openly honest here and say that I truly believe that this is the greatest composition Bethanis has ever produced; its emotive slow moving emotional tones bring tears to the eyes and a shiver down the neck and arms. The story behind this track is a personal one of the artist back in his 20’s, and his volunteering efforts in an Aids ward, the rest you can read via the notes yourself, the music here is some of the most heartfelt and stunningly beautiful I have ever heard, and it moved me greatly.

Our journey of sight and sound now takes us to this next creation called There is a Place Beyond the Heart. A song which was recently released as a single makes the grand stage as number 4 on this incredible album, here we find a song that constantly grows and expands through an almost classical moment of sublime intervention, and then its symphonic gestures literally explode crescendo like, with an angelic choir and a brass section lifting the narrative even higher than one ever thought possible.

Next is a rather interesting manifestation a veritable collage of fluent piano, percussion, soft gentle tones, string sections, with a lyrical content that would make any good pop song, on the uplifting narrative entitled These Are More Than Memories.

The natural sound effects that start this next opus were redolent of the subject matter of the song, a piece called Dream of the Golden West. The song is built around a memory of film star Rock Hudson and the movie Giant. This ever onward construction has a true sense of movement built within the weave of the piece, and several grand overtures and crescendos to boot as well, in a track that actually reminded me of another American pianist called Terry Lee Nichols and his creation, The Last Cowboy.

Time for another sensitive musical narrative now called My Father Never Saw Paris. I have yet to travel to France, but I will, until then I can do so via the medium of this quite beautiful opus by Bethanis. Elements of outstanding views can be felt here, mixed with moods of emotive dichotomies, in personal relationships perhaps. This is a memory palace of a piano piece, performed by one person, and dedicated to another, in a moment of humble respect.

The classical elements that began this track entranced me, then the piece built into something quite moving and all-encompassing, and I was hooked. Legend tells us here in Cyprus of the Sirens that sung upon the rocks, pulling many a boat adrift and the sailors on board to their deaths as well. However on Waltz of the Sirens there is a truly happy refrain to the overall arrangement, a delicious swing to the composition, and a very inventive coda as well.

We are now swimming in the deeper waters of the release, but we have come across a track now with a bounce and level of joy that flows from the piano keys of Bethanis like a Tsunami of excitement, one of possible love, on the sister to a previous massive hit of the artists The Bexley Bop, this rebounding overture however is called Ten Of Hearts, and is a piece that will simply electrify your night ahead.

The sound of a music box can sometimes be a haunting thing to listen to; something mysterious perhaps, what’s coming next? we can be heard to say, but her on this quite beautiful creation Bethanis eases our fears with a dualistic offering, a sensitive and tender track mixed with some majestic crescendos, this is the artist as his most creative best, elements of the classical entwined with good old new age piano, in a style that only Bethanis could achieve on the piece, New Age Music Box.

The most fascinating track ever is up next with the beguiling moniker of St. Declan's Traveling Dulcimer Candy Corporation, the weave of the arrangement at times contained a little Beatles energy into the construction of the said narrative, whilst the main fluent body of the piece could easily be used in a TV theme perhaps. This is one of those tracks that rarely come around, a colourful pastiche of crafted intelligence, akin to a perfect sunrise, a halcyon moment perhaps.

So we arrive at the parting point of the album, and as we push the boat free from its musical moorings for one last moment, we are gifted a final melodic narrative from the composer called That's How We Say Goodbye. This is the perfect song to conclude an album with, one tinged with the sadness of a goodbye moment, but one lightened by the happiness and positivity shared on a truly sublime performance by the artist.

Sonic Bloom by Wayne Bethanis was and is a journey of many colours and textures; it is a veritable tapestry of brilliance created by a pianist and composer who stands tall and undaunted in the centre of the ring, of the vast dimension that incorporates piano in all its guises. It may be an old cliché to say this is the best work yet from the artist, but when I say it, you know it to be true, and surely big things must be on the horizon for Sonic Bloom by Wayne Bethanis, it is without a shadow of a doubt his most seminal work thus far.