Flathead Lake: A Montana Album By Wayo Hogan & Aritra C

 

Flathead Lake: A Montana Album

By

Wayo Hogan & Aritra C

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

I must admit I love a project that takes in a location and goes on to describe it in music, why? because it’s something I try and do here with my musical recordings in the country of Cyprus, it is so satisfying to see just how close you can get, here the artists take a previous work created along Stillwater Lake and reimagine the entire thing, and in their endeavours produce one of the most listenable albums ever, entitled Flathead Lake: A Montana Album, by Wayo Hogan & Aritra C.

Key personnel on this album are the following, Aritra Choudhury (Aritra C) is the arranger on all tracks and what a sublime contribution to the overall artistic narrative he makes, and speaking of artistic intellects we can include the creative and art director Scott R. Hansen into the mix as well, the combination of both, and Hogan’s performances raise this album to seriously superior heights.

There are six beautiful descriptive tracks on this album, the first opens with sheer intent to grab the listener’s attention, drums power their way into the light of the piece as Hogan’s keyboards reign down notes of creative genius, in what is a masterful opening indeed, I hear so many people struggle with the mixing and engineering on records, but that is not the case here, this is a piece that sets up the entire scene so succinctly with Whitefish.

I have several friends who perform mastering and engineering tasks for major labels, but I can honestly say that they would be impressed with this album, and especially this track called Going-to-the-Sun, the overall musical narrative on piano floats around you, the percussion and added instrumentation kicks in, and a more smooth and lush instrumental track is born, I especially adored the electric guitar here so very craft fully played, this is a truly in-depth textured offering, and big tips of the hat must go to the agents of immersive brilliance in both Jennifer “JNY” Ortiz immersive engineer, and no other than Scott R. Hansen, the producer, on a total quality track, of a forward thinking narrative.

The shorter tale Glacier is our midway offering, the piano dances here, with the instruments all flowing like sun across an autumn lake, on one of the most compelling artistic endeavours from the album, one that as it plays allows a scenic palate to evolve naturally, whilst on Stillwater, the track of ultra-inspiration, we add a sway into the mix of an anthem like manifestation, if ever a track deserved to be used as a theme for a TV this is the one I would point to, this whole piece is produced so blissfully that one could literally imagine being on a mirrored lake in total peace and harmony.

We arrive at the location of Bigfork Bay, a folk like motif can be found here, with a wistful Celtic undertone as well, soft pastiches of guitar and bass can also be found here also, I was so wrapped by the joy and production of this track it shocked me, I felt the entire arrangement all around me in a sonic mixture of tone and timbre like never before, and the dancing piano of Hogan, the chief narrator of the construct on a superior produced piece indeed paved the way to a musical heaven.

Our wondrous concluding narrative is the haunting tale of Flathead Lake, this flourishing slice of instrumental genius is a classy work of art, its floating deep minor ethic is sublime, it’s no wonder it is a fan favourite, synths add highlights to the piece, percussive intelligence is utilised to a thoroughly expansive composition, this myriad of class then eventually tales off into a mist filled charming coda to conclude matters.

There is not a thing about this album that you can dislike, precision musical performances, superior skill sets and intellect used on the production, mixing and engineering, it is albums like this that give hope to the instrumental genre and new age music industry, and it is releases of such high quality that should be awarded for their attention to detail in every minute sense of the word, this is a top quality instrumental album, and like the location, a musical location of outstanding natural beauty on Flathead Lake: A Montana Album by Wayo Hogan & Aritra C.