New Age Vibe

Many weeks ago, I wrote my first post on Jillian Goldin’s Origins. To recall, RJ Lannan of New Age Reporter said “Where Enya Brennan left off, Jillian Goldin could make a good beginning.” and I, for one, wanted to listen to Goldin’s Origins and value its merit on my own. It’s time for it now.

Since when I got this album last week, I kept listening to it for I don’t want to take a quick sip and base my review on it. First, I like to thankful for the Goldin’s wonderful work of art. Having a taste for Wordsworth, Francis Thompson, Robert Frost and so forth, I couldn’t keep myself away from commenting on the simple yet deep moving thoughts and feelings captured through the lyrics–short crisp well chosen words, to be concise.

Into light
Into sound
Into time
Let love surround
Let love surround

Lyric (from Deliverance of the Heart) as simple as above through her enigmatic voice conveys a lot, emphasizing the lines in the liner notes:

Noting the lack of lyric-centric works in contemporary New Age music, through Origins Jillian emphasizes her belief that words and music together have the potential to traverse exciting terrain, weaving an elaborate tapestry of sound and thought that is unique to one’s own perceptions.  The album is as much an exploration in text as in music, unified by themes of mystery, plight, and catharsis.

Reading the credit section of the album, I was quite surprised to note that Jillian Goldin has written the lyric for all songs, performed all of them and composed music for most of them. Origins composed of 9 vocal tracks and 2 instrumental tracks (11 in total) is a creation of Jillian Goldin (lyric, music, and performance) and Andrew Aversa who has taken the production and Engineering for the album.

Track Listing

1. Hajime
2. Red July
3. The Winds of Change
4. The Secret Guards of Kalé
5. Wildland                             (Instrumental)
6. Twilight Chaser
7. To the Forgotten Temple…    (Instrumental)
8. Breathe and Dive
9. Avalon
10. Shadows
11. Deliverance of the Heart

To be fair, I must acknowledge that the very first track Hajime hasnt impressed me anyway. I felt the lyric howsoever good doesn’t fit into the music and the music seemed like a foot cutout (and puffed in) to fit the size of the shoe. Except for that track, I enjoyed listening to Origins and it’s a worthy collection in my music library both for its literary and musical value. I wish Jillian Goldin and Andrew Aversa a very good future and look forward for more promising albums in future, also.

PS: About the Enya vs Goldin stuff, I still feel that Enya stands apart for what her music feels like. Goldin may or may not be compared to Enya, but all that, I feel, cannot be concluded by Origins, alone. Time decides….

Comments Off