Customer Reviews

Shadowplay

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tim Story's style is classical contemplative, his music is a reflection upon the linear flow of time that lingers briefly, making us wish that we could hold on to it for just a while longer. Like looking at a photo by Ansel Adams, Tim Story fills the space between silence and sound with beauty.

In Shadowplay, I am reminded of a dancer on a darkened stage, with the only light a bright spotlight and his only partner being his shadow. The dance is between the extremes of light and dark, with the dancer and his shadow the uniting movement. Each of the 10 tracks reflects that dance in some way. He uses the piano, the synthesizer, the cello and the oboe to bring either light or dark to each piece and changes their part from piece to piece to show the versatility of the instruments as well as the musician.

Tim Story plays piano and synthesizers again with Kimberly Bryden on the oboe and Martha Reikow on the cello. They work together well, achieving the balance of light and dark with the brilliance of one offsetting the darkness of the other. The addition of synthesizers is to sometimes bind them together, while at other times it is the separating element. The opening track "Map of the Warm Night" and the follow up "Perhaps" are wonderful examples of this light and shadow balance.

Tim's music is sometimes melancholy but never depressing. It is always light like air, and evokes the emotion of time passing as we try to grasp it before it gets away. The track entitled "Intemperate" is probably the best example of this, and it has a most playful air about it. The addition of Dieter Moebius' electronics gives this piece a most surrealistic quality.

Tim Story has always presented beautiful music with a classical touch to ambient electronica genre. This CD is the most beautiful blending of his style to date and is a must for Tim Story fans. It harkens back to his "The Perfect Flaw" CD and removes any doubt that Tim Story is a master of this medium.

On Shadowplay, Tim Story masters the minimalist style, with songs of grace and subtlety. Top notch playing and production allows the listener to move deeper into the intersecting emotions outlined with each playing.
Story uses primarily piano, strings and oboe here, and what is notable is what has been left out - any superficial element that would distract from the carefully constructed mood of peaceful questioning. This is what sets Story apart from many new age artists; this is not blissful music, but music always open to the unfolding impermanence of life.
One of joys is his use of tempo changes for emphasis - when he has established the tone and color, he will slow the pace, allowing the song to gather depth and gravitas.
Highly recommended.

This music is permeated with a bittersweet melancholy. Some of the most beautiful music Story has ever composed graces this album. He has taken the next step beyond The Perfect Flaw and now seems far beyond most other adult contemporary musicians in the mastery of his medium.

While the music is shot through with melancholy, it is also intelligent, wise, contemplative, compassionate, and unpresumptuous. Children and shallow-minded people will find very little here to enjoy. This is primarily thoughtful music, with a dark brown coloring.

From a compositional perspective, probably the most interesting piece on this album is the excellent When All Beyond Was Wild. If I'm not mistaken, it is the longest composition that Story has so far composed, and he does some rather amazing things in it. I especially love that subtle key change that occurs midway through it, and the subtle electronics which seem to mimic cryptic wild animals.

The only piece that I have not been able to fully appreciate is Intemperate. Perhaps it is the electronics, or perhaps the slightly more upbeat tone of this piece which sets it apart from the others. At any rate, this album is essential listening for all intelligent ears.

Deep, rich, reflective, sincere. Just a few adjectives to describe Tim Story's latest effort. He has come light-years since his earlier works such as "Glass Green" and "Three Feet From the Moon". His style has carefully developed refelctive tones with each release and "Shadowplay" will easily take control of your emotions.

When you're down, this will lift you up, and even when you're in a joyous mood, "Shadowplay" will reinforce that happiness with the overwhelming beauty of every composition. There isn't a cut on this disc that cannot evoke some introspection into your soul. It's mesmerizing, hypnotic, and utterly satisfying in different ways each time you play it. Simple elite craftmanship. Although "A Perfect Flaw" is a great work of art from Story, "Shadowplay" will overshadow it.

As a sidebar..."Intemperate" was featured in the ending credits of the movie "Erin Brochovich".

Tim Story, probably the finest practitioners of miniaturist neo-chamber music is back with his latest release, SHADOWPLAY. Continuing where he left off with THE PERFECT FLAW, he once again blends delicate strings and woodwinds (this time, cello and oboe) with his own muted piano, guitar, and (of course) his unique assortment of synthesizers and keyboards. The result is a recording dipped in regret, melancholy, and profound sorrow. But, unlike others who "musically" paint with broad brushstrokes and infuse their music with pomposity, pretentiousness and melodrama, Tim's music is refined and laser-sharp, comprised of repetitive phrasings that are subtle in the extreme as they evolve over the course of each song.

At the same time, a thread of what I often call "emotional ambiguity" runs through all the pieces here as well. While I refer to Story's music as "tragically beautiful" or "melancholic," others could hear it as something else. Still, the use of minor key chords and notes, the slow rhythms (if any at all) and the darker undercurrents of synths, do carry a "sad" texture to my ears. But the impact of Story's music will vary with the listener. This ambiguiity is aided by Tim's typical idiosyncratic approach to song titles which do not "draw a picture" of what the listener is supposed to "feel" or "imagine" except in a very indirect way (if at all).

If you are a fan of Tim's BEGUILED, you will love SHADOWPLAY. If you liked THE PERFECT FLAW, you may think part of this is a little more "electronic" (which, in subtle amounts, it is by comparison). But SHADOWPLAY is not that similar to his much earlier CDs, except perhaps GLASS GREEN.

With all due respect, I have no idea why my esteemed colleague John Diliberto would compare Tim Story to Kevin Kendle, as they operate in wholly distinct subgenres. To compare the two is a disservice to both artists, IMO. It would be like comparing Joni Mitchell (folk) to Susannah McCorkle (jazz). Just my opinion, of course.

Although I knew little material from this great contemporary instrumental composer before, this work and 'The Perfect Flaw' are enough to rate him between the highlights of the lot you can find today, for various reasons: the honestity of this not-artificially-virtuose and deep kind of music, that seems to compress the most intense feelings and impulses in its apparent tranquility, and the strangeness and originality, among the beauty, of most of the melodies, are only two spare examples.

It's the kind of music you need to listen to a few times to let it grow into you. For me the most captivating tracks after a lot of listenings are 'Intemperate', superb in its incredible strangeness and the use of an 'oboe d'amore' that adds colour with its sharp, air-stinging sound, 'Hum', a gloomy, majestic title that seems to stop literally the flow of time, 'Slippery Hours' and 'Map of the Warm Night'.

The thing I like most from this composer is the lack of fear in creating seemingly disonant and contradictory textures of sound in an extremely personal way, disguising them into a simple diagram that's full of colour tinges. It's a challenge to try with such a different kind of music. And you'll like it.

Tim Story is one of those arists ill-served by identification with the "New Age" genre, His previous two releases (Beguiled and The Perfect Flaw) are insinuating, wry, ambiguous and haunting. You can imagine Satie writing similar music were he alive today. Story's music is often pictorial also; it conjures images, and produces a feeling of fascination although it is superficially very simple. The newest recording Shadowplay is more definitely melancholy, even sorrowful. What prevents it from being just-plain-sad is its compassion. It is musically somewhat simpler than its recent predeccesors, more atmospheric but perhaps a little less intriguing. It is, I should add, very pretty but not at all saccharine. If you like Tim Story - and I do - this music will please you. I'm left feeling itchy to hear what he'll do next.

Tim Story is my favorite composer and Shadoplay's ambient melodies are the perfect background music for researching, writing or driving. If your work involves complex analytic thought and you need refreshing music to sustain you, listen to any of Tim Story's CDs and revitalize your mind!

Tim Story's music has always been contemplative, and at times, dark. But dark and contemplative are taken to new depths (or heights depending on your point of view) in Shadowplay. I have been a Tim Story fan for some time, but this new album shows the artist to be at the height of his compositional maturity. Listen to Map of the Warm Night, which sets the tone for the rest of the CD. Cello, oboe and keyboards have long been Story's trademark instrumentation, and he brings out some of their most mournful qualities in this collection of works. In fact, I hear the influences of Satie and even Sibelius' 4th Symphony in some of these works. This is vintage Story-a must have-highest recommendation.

Oh the depth. It's hard to express in words what Story captures in sound on this incredible album. If you are a Hearts of Space listener Story is probably familiar, but if you haven't ventured into the realm of "slow music for fast times" take a listen. This music is a comfort in this tense modern era, a reminder that, if we look hard enough, there is genius all around us, and a deep eternal reality beyond that which we perceive lingering beneath every surface. We need only stop, look, and listen.