"Beneath the Sky" is only $13.00CAN plus taxes and mailing costs!

I have always been impressed with the work of Anthony Paul Kirby. As both The Circular Ruins and Lammergeyer he has made a habit of regularly creating beautiful and inspired ambience that stands among the best of the genre being created today. Further, with every release his work is getting better and better, to the point where I am running out of adjectives to describe his work. Sincerely. It's that good. And with the release of his new disc as Lammergeyer, "Beneath the Sky", I am unsure if I can find anything else to say once I've used the word "breathtaking". Which makes reviewing this very wonderful disc quite a challenge for me...

The disc begins with a wave, a sound that builds up from all sides of the soundfield and fills the track "Breathless". From deep within the sound finer details begin to emerge, taking shape and form, growing clarity in a way that suggests birth and a new beginning. A lovely way to begin our journey.

"All This Time" features shimmering chimes and log-like percussion. It's a haunting piece, a seemless blend of magic and ritual that flows smoothly around the listener and caresses the senses. A track that is simply sublime in it's beauty.

"Black River" suggests liquid and flow, coupled with isolation and reflection. Drones and oblique motion are used to great effect here, capturing a moment in time that could last forever or only just a second. This track blends in nicely with track four, "Maplin Sands", very much conveying a sense of conclusion to a journey, a decision made.

"The Cartographer's Dream" is a space-y drift of a song, resplendant in the sound of stars and snatches of dialogue. Unreality and the actual walk hand in hand during this piece, drones and phrases giving the song a dreamlike feeling suggesting the haze of memory where reality is created by a combination of experience and our imaginations.

"Abyss and Resolution" opens with a blend of drifting pads and analog phrases that soon gives way to a largely pad based form where melody and shape are hard to grasp. Sounds move about freely in the song, always something new to hear and feel.

Magic and wonder infuse "Silent Powers, Secret Paths". Echo-laden drones drift and flow, running their course and emptying before being replaced by sparse melodies floating through the track. It's all very elegant and fresh, something crisp and clean, pristine. Wondrous.

"Epitaph" is short and sweet, a brief taste of something that flashes by, a memory that's only fleeting. I'm sure there'd be more to say but I can't remember what it was.

"The Effect of Winter" captures a moment in time, something beautiful and fragile, but also something dark and enigmatic. Tones mingle with eachother in subtle alchemical ways throughout this piece. Beautiful.

Closing track "Beneath the Sky" is sweeping in grandeur and wonder, a long form piece that builds from a simple drone to become something magical. Slight melody plays on the edge of the track, a bubbling tone, the sounds of electricity and space. Lovely.

Without doubt this is a beautiful collection of music, a stunning and inspired group of songs that not only lives up to my expectations of Kirby's work, but surpasses them. There is no question in my mind that "Beneath the Sky" is a breathtaking disc, and I have reached a point where I'll have to create a new language to describe the beauty of future releases by Lammergeyer and The Circular Ruins. Simply breathtaking.

rik - ping things