earman170 - Lily Pond Orchestra - Suite For New England

Lily Pond Orchestra returns to the shores of Earth Mantra, this time with a stunning three-disc collection of exhilarating ambient compositions called "Suite For New England".

Douglas JP Lee, the man behind Lily Pond Orchestra, began working on this epic release in early 2010, though at the time he was only intending to develop three individual pieces. As he composed, however, he realized that these early works were actually aspects of a much larger and more ambitious effort. So he transformed these pieces in progress into this cohesive whole, an album that superbly evokes the mystery, history, and beauty of the land that Douglas loves so much.

We chose the word "epic" with care, for we feel this album certainly deserves such a description. We find it difficult to point to -- or perhaps even imagine -- an album of similar length that covers its thematic territory with such aplomb. From the stark vistas of the New England landscape explored in "Acadien Mist", to the rich cultural treasures of the "Valley of the Poets", to the introspective calm of "Lily Pond Reflection", this release delivers one of those rare experiences in the ambient world that both soothes and inspires, that enlightens even as it relaxes.

Indeed, the music of "Suite For New England" somehow expertly fuses the realm of Eno-esque 'ignorable' mood music with a compositional style that is much more active, almost symphonic, in nature. We find this music to be just as suitable as background for reading or sipping tea by the fireplace or napping on a quiet afternoon as it is suitable for active listening with headphones in a darkened room. We particularly love the titles, which stimulate mental imagery as powerful as any we have ever experienced. Masterful.

So it is with great pleasure that we unveil the "Suite For New England", Lily Pond Orchestra's latest release on Earth Mantra. Highly, highly recommended.

As always, all Earth Mantra releases are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license. For commercial use, please contact us.

---

All pieces written, arranged, performed by Lily Pond Orchestra.

Original paintings by Robert Swain Gifford, Francis Seth Frost, and Alfred Bierstadt. Photographs made available to the public domain by Wikimedia Commons.

Released in March 2011.

Released under the "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported" license, which allows and encourages free use of this material so long as certain conditions are met. Details of this license can be found at:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

---

earman170 - Lily Pond Orchestra - Suite For New England

3:29:17 - 500 MB

Disc 1 - 56:08

01 - Ocean Murmurs (15:12, 35.6 MB)
02 - Acadien Mist (26:37, 62.4 MB)
03 - Cathedral in the Pines (14:19, 33.5 MB)

Disc 2 - 78:17

01 - Eternal Moments (20:14, 47.4 MB)
02 - Twilight Fires (9:40, 22.6 MB)
03 - An Age of Bright Promise (11:41, 27.4 MB)
04 - Valley of the Poets (20:03, 47.0 MB)
05 - Drifting Home (16:39, 39.0 MB)

Disc 3 - 74:52

01 - Lily Pond Morning (21:07, 49.5 MB)
02 - Ageless Aeons (19:31, 45.7 MB)
03 - The Journey Home (13:37, 31.9 MB)
04 - Lily Pond Reflection (20:37, 48.3 MB)

---

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews