Customer Reviews

Lifegiving

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a big fan of New Age music and the genre in a big way and I am always looking to listen to new artists from this genre. I came across 'Australis' in a music search and decided to take a punt and purchased this album. I didn't know what to expect so having listened to this album 3 times already. I can say I am pleasantly surprised. This album was released midway through 2005 and the album is New Age with a ambient feel to it. Another great thing about this album is the artwork that shows the care and feeling that went into the production of this beautiful set of work. The front cover is of a butterfly on sanded back paper. The insides of the album on the left hand side is a Mayan symbol (mayan calender).

The music is performed and composed by a lone artist who goes by the name 'Australis'. There are 10 tracks to this album and everyone of the songs is well worth the listen. New Age fans will fall in love with the sensuous and ambient rhythms of this album and each song is a enigma unto itself. The first song is the album namesake 'Lifegiving' - that sets the tone and style of the rest of the album release. The best 2 songs of the album are 'Turning Point' that opens with a bravado of piano skill and 'The Sound of Hope' which brings together a soothing and hopeful sound with flutes, synths and keyboards.

But as I have said, all the songs are well worth a listen and the final song 'Sacred Earth' is a fine ending to what I hope to be Australis' first of several albums. This artist has the brilliant touches of Enigma's Michael Cretu and the flair of Era's Eric Levi. I look forward to more musical masterpieces from 'Australis'.

The first time I heard the song "Between the sun and the moon" I fell in love with it. Australis is a genius in new age music. All of his songs are great to listen to. The songs seem to have a very different yet extremely good beat and melody. You can almost feel your head nodding! I thank God I stumbled upon this album where its so rare to find excellent new age music knowing how easy it is to be carried when people listen exclusively to the most popular new age musicians and discard the rest. You should NOT discard this, its the BEST.

This LP is a collection of incredible music. Each one of its tracks is amazingly evocative and entices the imagination to fly while long lost emotions surface. I very much like the fact that each piece is independent in style; it is not like one of those albums where each track is just 'more of the same stuff'. In this one each track is a complete work of art in itself with its own style and cadences; and listening to all tracks one after another gives me a sentation of constant discovery. I highly recommend this LP. If you are not afraid of exploring the deepest emotions within yourself, you'll really enjoy this one.

The hauntingly beautiful music of Australis caught my ear over and over on the various outlets. So, I purchased the CD and found a great new array of what seems to be a New Wave of New Age music. Similar to Amethystium or perhaps Ryan Farish but holding their own. I really enjoy this CD alot and would recommend it to all who are currently turned on by this fascinating new wave of new age. P.S. This is great driving or traveling music!

I like the music, but was a bit disappointed that it mostly sounded the same all the way through. Not much variety. I was ready for the end of the CD to hurry and get there the first time I listened to it.

In the very beginning, 6 million square miles of Rain Forests exist worldwide, but because of relatively recent deforestation, only 2.6 million square miles remain. What is really alarming is that this major deforestation took place within the past 50 years. It is estimated that 85 % of the animals, plants, and microorganisms now remaining in these vital ecosystems will be destroyed by the year 2020, with increasing timber losses of 56,000 square miles each year.

Oscar Aguayo, having an artist title of Australis, is just one among many persons who comprehend and share this environmental concern having been born and raised in a tropical rain forest region of the Amazonian Basin in Peru, South America. While Oscar presently resides in America, his 2005 album Lifegiving makes reference to this complex political and social question involving our rain forests around the world.

His first album Lifegiving is a New Age spiritual endeavor that steps into a lush undergrowth in the mysterious subgenre land of Ambient, World, Electronica, and Classic, having Ethnic pathways towards a deeper emotional expression where each discovery blends into an intricate canopy filled with rich colorful instrumentation. The 10 songs representing his personal insight are divinely portrayed on this album using careful craftsmanship that in turn introduces a strong emotional content beyond any cultural, political, or geographical limitations.

This unique excursion begins with the title song Lifegiving, where faint chirping of jungle soundscapes ascend slowly into the lush surroundings. The single key piano notes then sketch an image of dew drops from the jungle canopy, falling onto dense tropical vegetation below. The deep recesses of secluded terrain are soon lit by violin and string interlude that together emerge to install thoughts of dusk like visibility. While glancing upward, small fragments of sun beams penetrate the full tree tops above, changing your perspective on the time of day. Slowly as the song starts to fade, an apparent awareness of total darkness begins to descend around you, bringing with it soft audible animal chants, returning to their nightly song ritual.

The Enchantment is a song rich in orchestral diversity with lively strings and woodwinds engaging in a native dance full of tempo and key changes that both excite and captivate those who have entered this mysterious land of musical enchantment.

Sacred Earth is an upbeat Ethnic song that explores the inner boundaries of this earthly sanctuary largely responsible for our life giving resources of medicine, water and air that we breath. While woodwind, flute, and piano play a colorful fragrant harmony, exotic instruments lend their perspective sovereignty, giving this song a unique essence.

The bongo drums, woodblock, and abundant percussion claves enhance this song by surrounding within an indirect border, giving it a deep tribal influence without overriding the primary melody. Oscar's brother Alvaro lends his talent by playing an exotic 10 string Charango in this song, adding refinement and warmth to the experience. The song and album ends by fading into a soft forest rainfall, leaving you with a collective memory of your musical excursion filled with creativity, interest, and amazement of this album and our life giving rain forests worth saving.

* In a conservative estimate, over 6000 life giving trees in our rain forests around the world were lost during the short amount of time it took you to read my album review.

I've always felt like, the best music is the kind that truly moves me without saying a single word. Music that gets me toe-tapping and head-nodding almost reflexively. Lifegiving is one such album.

The entire album sounds like it tells a story. One of my favorite tracks is the upbeat "Fire Tamer", which totally sounds like a slightly futuristic new-agey James Bond movie theme song, LOL!

My other favorite track is the breathtaking "Between the Sun and the Moon"... The woodwinds (or violin) in it are just marvelous. As a software developer I don't want to be distracted by words, or too much chanting... just give me some smooth crystal melodies to complement my "Flow" (all you other software developers know what I am talking about). Lifegiving is really music by which you can code and get work done.

Now for the not-so-great (my reasons for giving it 4 stars instead of 5). After several days of listening, I found that too many of the tracks used the same set of instruments at same timbre and pitch. A little overuse of the piano. There weren't (to me) enough "exotic" instruments. And also, there weren't enough tracks that made me go "wow".

Ok I'll tell the truth: I rarely give 5 stars :) This is simply a great album and would make a good addition to any New Age collection. I especially recommend it to people who are still new to the genre.

I received an e-mail one day featuring Australis' latest CD. I have never heard of the artist; therefore, I decided to listen to it on Amazon. Much to my suprise, and after listening to 5 songs, I was convinced that Australis has alot to offer. The music is very relaxing, and very charistmatic.

I heard about it trough some friends.
I've enjoyed it. May I know more about other productions he has?

This is really good music. I hope we can hear more from Australis.