Where do you start in the discussion group  “ambient music – is it just boring?” Let’s be fair, “New Age Music” mostly holds up is its angelic faerie hands freshly washes in meaningless synthesiser soap. But then Post Rock, NeoClassical and Ambient are always open for debate.

Those of us who have a penchant for a good instrumental can be hypercritical and very elitist in our choices and are often the butt end of pretty harsh criticism from some quarters. But once the likes of Max Richter, Nils Frahm or Icelandic genius Ólafur Arnalds get into your psyche, then you can become enchanted.
Anyhow, Lisa Gerrard, she of Dead Can Dance notoriety, is one of those artists who it is hard to do justice to in words. Gerrard neatly sidesteps any middle of the road connotations with her ability to add a healthy portion of Darkwave into the mix. Her voice is simply beautiful, rich and deep like a good claret and the music she composes is almost beyond description.

 Atmospheric? YES. Majestic? YES. Mysterious? YES. As her music soars from the speakers you are transported from snowcapped mountains, across misty seascapes in search of a holy grail defying the listener to categorise her in any of the above genres.

Twilight Kingdom oozes quality and artistic integrity conjuring up a serene ghostly alchemy that never strays into pretentiousness. A staggeringly wonderful work.

Words: Keefy

ps: Sloucher Music Historians might like to check out Claire Hammill “ Voices” originally released 1986 . Undiscovered gem !!