Ken Field - 2024 - The Canopy

(30:19; Neuma Records)






















Track list:
1. The Serving 2:24
2. Also Known As 1:49
3. Laevinic Defeat 1:43
4. Culture 4:46
5. Four Words 1:41
6. Mirror 3:06
7. Day by Day 3:24
8. Deluge 3:55
9. Darkness into Light 7:31

Line-up:
Ken Field - all instruments


US composer and musician Ken Field is a veteran in US music circles, with tenures in bands exploring the fields of world music, jazz and progressive rock in his resume, as well as composing music for television shows. In addition he has been active as a solo artist since the middle of the 1990s, with more than a dozen albums to his name as of 2024. "The Canopy" is his latest studio album, and was released by US label Neuma Records in the fall of 2024.

The music on this album was commissioned for a dance performance, where the topic of the performance were expressions of loss, love and resilience. These are emotions that all shine through in these compositions too, and besides the emotional resonances that comes with the different landscapes explored here I'd also say that the overall nature of this album is a cinematic one.

While the opening song invites us into this universe in more of an exotic and world music oriented manner, we then get a more elegant acoustic guitar display with only very subtle exotic elements next in line before moving on to a searching and elegant saxophone driven display that instils a sense of wonder more than anything else.

The marimba and the flute dominate the next landscape with more of an ancient feeling as a dominant mood element, giving associations to memories and recollection, followed by three compositions with the saxophone as the dominant instrument now projecting variations of emotions such as melancholy, sorrow, sadness, longing and loneliness. The piano and flute dominates the next piece here, where there's an unnerving feeling of threat from the piano motif while the elegant flute leads on top moves on without taking heed to that presence. The dual saxophone textures on the concluding 'Darkness Into Light' showcase a subtle difference between darkness and light, at least that is my key association of this somewhat more low key and careful excursion.

While arguments probably can be made for the music on this album to belong inside this or that tradition, for me at least this is a creation that revolves around moods and atmospheres. Cinematic creations made to conjure emotional responses and associations to images of places and situations. Compositions for those inner, internal and introspective journeys into your own mind and your own emotions. While a bit of an affection for the saxophone as a lead instrument is required in this case, this is an album that for me at least is one that should be well suited as a soundtrack to internal, contemplative journeys of the mind. And a creation that merits a listen by those who tend to find music of this kind to be inspiring and rewarding.

Olav M. Björnsen, September 2024

Links:
https://kenfield.org/
https://neumarecords.org/

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