Customer Reviews

The Lucidity Project

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

 

 

With his latest release, Halaas combines his phenomenal piano playing with the legendary Joan Jeanrenaud (formerly of Kronos Quartet), cellist extraordinaire. Michael weaves the two instruments together with great success creating complex textures and moods in each song. As with all his albums, these songs convey a personal journey to which we relate as we listen. The cello adds a new voice to the dialogue, and the songs are utterly captivating.

New subtleties reveal themselves on each listening. These songs are absolutely gorgeous, filled with layers upon layers of rich sound. An explanation of the musical wizardy appears on the inside jacket: "To create the textures of sound found on this album, each instrument was played by Michael or Joan and recorded individually. The tracks were then carefully layered to produce the resulting pieces. All songs on this album are combinations of music recorded on the piano, cello, guitar, and a variety of percussion instruments."

It has all the clean, polished sound of a major label album (if you have a nice sound system, turn it up!). With this album, Michael has again shown his incredible versatility by producing a wonderfully subtle and personal musical journey. If you like Michael's other work or are just a fan of the piano or cello, be sure to check out this album for a refreshing new sound. Bravo Michael!

This album is outstanding, I recommend it highly, it offers an exciting new sound that is lively and soothing.

Absolutely beautiful piano music by Michael Halaas, inspired and inspiring. Passing ships and January are the highlights for me.

I agree that this cd is beautifully played and recorded, but beyond that I diverge. The tunes have multiple moods, and often become edgy, and sometimes dark.

I honestly worry about Michael's sanity while listening to these tunes. I'm disposing of my copy - it's just too weird. But he's such a good player I hope to hear something warmer from him one day.