Imaginary Trains
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley April 23, 2022
Artist – Michael Whalen. Featuring Donna Lewis and Ravichandra Kulur.
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Released: April 2022
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Website: https://michaelwhalenmusic.bandcamp.com/album/imaginary-trains
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Michael Whalen is a force within the world of music; a two-time Emmy® award winning composer and international recording artist his long awaited album Imaginary Trains has finally arrived and is a work that has been well worth the wait.
As a composer he delights in creating the original; since his last personal work Sacred Spaces in 2019, he has been experimenting with a range of sounds of which he has selected 200 unique variations, to come together in a magical eleven track work.
So hop on board with Imaginary Trains and settle in for a wondrous journey only you can take as it leaves the station for places yet to be discovered. As electronic music is nothing is as it seems, always containing something completely unexpected, often coming across as clinical, this work is anything but as it is full of life, warmth and pizazz; just like any good long haul train journey should be. Enjoy.
Across the world to be with you has been arranged by Ricky Kej and features some delicate flute work from Ravichandra Kulur woven throughout the slightly otherworldly piece that transports into that magical, timeless space discovered on may long train journeys, where time simply seems to stand still.
A truly beautiful piece is My Immortal Beloved which simply drifts, floating and dreaming whereas a little further into the journey, the presence of humanity steps into the mix, in Vox Humana with pulsing beats, along with chattering vocals added for a bit of fun, before slowly being left behind as the train moves ever onwards.
Spacey pulsating and robust The Journey to LightsEdge changes the tempo again to an intricate sweeping soundscape that has the steady tempo of wheels turning on the track, rushing onward the destination drawing ever closer.
Regardless of where you begin on this fascinating journey into worlds apart, the music is utterly captivating. As Whalen says, when he was composing the work he had to take the journey before he could create the sounds to capture the essence of the already formed track titles.
Join him on his Imaginary Trains and arrive at the final destination with the enchanting piece Distance featuring the gentle vocals of Donna Lewis; the perfect conclusion to an album that is enchanting, dreamy, romantic and fun, but most importantly, a brilliant piece of work from a man who delights in creating something vastly different within the electronic spectrum.