Understanding the Signs
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley July 13, 2016
Artist – Geoff Hall
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Individual and yet symbolic, constructed and yet deconstructed, emotion with experience; all these are a component of this amazingly comprehensive, almost eclectic, musical score which encompasses a range of music styles from new-age ambient to classical orchestra: a big combination and one that does work, and work well.
Each track has been created to describe or reimage an emotion, a feeling and challenge, with the majesty of a film score, the vibrancy of a fresh new day, and yet, encompassing a sober overtone which dictates the mood, the scene the place and in some instances the time.
Each piece is intricate involving several changes of tempo, from the fast, upbeat to the slower more reflective notes; perhaps in the piece Towards a Perfect Moment, you can feel the musician trying time and time again, each time with more finesse, seeking to discover the single moment when everything comes together in ‘perfection’.
As Hall says, he hopes that anyone who takes the time to listen finds something, some personal connection with the music, and there is something there for everyone to enjoy and discover something that is new, unique and pleasurable.
Hall’s main instruments are the guitar and piano; his piano, is where his compositions commence, the place where he roughs out the beginnings of his compositions, the place where he sits and allows inspiration to evolve into music. His guitar, although played often, only features once in the track Gone But Not Forgotten, where it is simply a component of a much larger work.
The mellow, almost sombre ebb and flow of the music can easily be related to living, to nature, to the world turning, to everyday life, and the sure knowledge that tomorrow, there will be a new beginning, a fresh start, a time of magnificence.
In this multilayered collection of orchestral pieces, you marvel at the combinations used, the music styles combined, the joy and reflective nature of the emotions, but most of all, and in spite of the sombre nature of several of the pieces, discover at the final note, that yes, you really have enjoyed the journey!