ABSOLUTELY
LOVELY RELEASE; A SUMPTUOUS REPAST OF VIBRATION Anybody following
my work on this modest website knows that while I try to keep an ear to the
ground, I also follow the work of particular artists whose work I relate to
most readily. Brian E. Paulson (BEP) is one of those sound artists who is
able to evolve in his Art, remaining true to his primary aesthetic while incorporating
new aspects. He also is his own production company, which gives him total
creative control -- which I understand completely -- yet can also limit distribution.
In this he stands with a handful of rugged Visionary Sound artists like Robert
Carty or Shapeshifter who never did go with a "label," but Did It Themselves.
you gotta admire that. What originally attracted me to BEP's work were his Classic Ambient works like "Mystic Rain" (a MUST HAVE for any serious ambient aficionado, in my opinion,) "Delta Bliss" and "Power Of 7," which I found in the Tools For Exploration catalogue way back when (they now can be found on the web as Tools For Wellness, and still offer some of BEP's releases.) Following up on those fabulous recordings, I tried "Brian's Brain Busters," which is a near-perfect brainwave music album. All of these discs are continuum music. The first three are half hour pieces and "BBB" has 3 extended tracks. Alongside and following this artistic period, Brian began to introduce drum machine and more narrative song structure in albums like "Return To Giza" or "Arc of Light." These two album would probably appeal to people who enjoy new age music. They both, of course, have a great deal of science involved in them, "Giza," for instance, incorporating measurements of the Pyramid of Giza into its tunings, while "Arc" used tunings harmonic with Earth, Mars and Saturn in high octave orange red & high octave blue. Brian then really went for downtempo rock beats and a more popular sound, while retaining his signature use of harmonics and special tuning. This resulted in "Pulse Of Life," which is enjoyable positivity in its own right, but in retrospect seems to have been a transitional album to the amazing angelic album of last year, "Deep Release" and now this current one "Harmonic Bliss."
There are 2 pieces on this disc. The first one, "Flow and Ebb," has a keynote of C#, but my experience mentally and physically was on the fifth at F#. A higher dynamic heart chakra piece, resonating the upper areas of the heart where we feel honor, bliss states involved with loving others and being alive, deep respect, desire for justice and our responsibility as universal citizens. Almost 24mins long, it has a prominent bass and slow luxiorious rhythm reminding me of Patrick O'Hearn. But whereas O'Hearn is introspective and spare, this music is quite dense with all manner of wondrous sounds it would be nigh on impossible to catalogue here. And not introspective but highly engaged and friendly. Like last year's "Deep Release," this recording is dramatic and exquisitely beautiful at times. I love it when a keyboardist understands that they are moving energy and touching the body in certain places when they play. I know i just spoke of prominent bass, but actually the predominant instrument on this release is piano. The piano pretty much carries the melody and sustains the narrative, with a little synth help here and there. Brian plays electric guitar quite magnificently i should say, but he seems to prefer to use it in his more active rock releases, which are more joyous and celebratory, pure fun, what I sometimes call vacation music (because I'd take it on vacation with me.) In fact, I DID take "Isle Of Vibe" with me when I accompanied my mother, who was visiting, to the other side of Maui for an outing at Hana. that disc fit perfectly with driving on the road to Hana and I recommend it.
The second piece, "Indigo Bliss," is 28 minutes long in the keynote of E. Again, I experienced this on the fifth of A, as a Third Eye piece. This piece nearly sent me over the falls. I was concerned that I was going to have to lie down and leave my body to bliss the high heavens. It was THAT intense. beginning with deceptive simplicity -- synth winds and lower register piano -- this recording slowly ascends via voices to a truly sacred space. I really had the feeling this piece was triggering minute releases of DMT from my pineal gland. at one moment, I did think I was about to go all the way. It is not easy to be giving a CD a serious critical listen when you are being sucked into a whirlpool of pure pleasure. For as royal a sonic feast as "Flow and Ebb" was, "Indigo Bliss" soars into the regions of sheer bliss I have known and loved through my psychic travels. "Harmonic Bliss" has to be compared with Kip Mazuy's "Ocean Euphoric" or Donald Slepian's "Sea of Bliss" on the basis of actually being able to induce the states, being splendiferously gorgeous and being rewarding on repeated listening. where the heart F# blisses by loving Others and Life; the 3rd eye A blisses by loving All, Self and the Divine. This recording helped me recognize different bliss states. I have for some time felt that there were different kinds of bliss, but had no language to formalize it in my mind. this music helps that.