A Momentary Pause
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley October 14, 2020
Artist – Holland Phillips
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http://www.musicbyholland.com/
Out of the ever-changing patters that have formed the world of 2020 has come some of the most beautiful, peaceful, healing music; music offered to all who care to listen, to partake of the healing and soothing melodies, which encourage everyone to stop and listen, even for just a moment, to the refreshing beauty to be found in a world in flux.
A Momentary Pause from Holland Phillips was born during the first lock-down which saw people rapidly losing their sense of perspective as their daily lives, their routines, were severely disrupted and facing a future of great uncertainty.
Each of the pieces that form this elegant collection are full of hope, of peace and as in the intriguing song Whispers, a sense of optimism that after the storm comes the whisper of new growth, fresh futures to be found, life the same but not the same. Violin synth introduces the fascinating Stepping Stones, a complex series of harmonies underpinned with the drone of the synth, which almost seems to request a pause to reflect on the distance traveled, the help received from many ‘stepping stones’ along the way.
A favorite is the up tempo Dreaming On Ice, something we are all more than capable of doing, as dreams are, until their creation only ephemeral, there for a such a short time before melting into a new beginning.
4.44 minutes in time allows Palindrome to unfold, only to return upon itself as palindromes are wont to do and as, in this unique composition of notes, the intricate structure is slowly revealed to also offer a time for reflection.
Delicate flute melodies drift around inside the structure of Casting Shadows, making this a bright breezy song full of joy, light and acceptance as time inevitably moves onward, the synth offering the darker moments, flute ushering in the light, before the measured A Moment in Time arrives when it has to be considered that this too shall pass and once passed, will inevitably become another moment in time!
Bedtime Prayers is a perfectly beautiful, elegant and meditative end note to an album reminds us all that out of the dark does come light, and that something good can always be found when the time is taken to look about our incredible world.