Meg Bowles – Evensong: Canticles for the Earth
I discovered an album the other night, when I was moving some CDs around. When I first looked at it I thought -what’s this? Oh it’s probably an advanced copy of a CD that I got to review. I guess I’ll give it a listen. But I bet it’s a vocal album that I really won’t like that much.(I have a tendency to not like new Age female (vocalists sorry ladies) So I put it in the CD player and then smacked myself up the side of my head when what came out was not vocal,at all, but wonderful ambient music!
About Meg Bowles
It seems that I have been missing out on the music of Ms. Bowles for a long while now! She started her music career back in 1992, when she left her job as a derivatives trader (yes you read that right) to spend more time perusing advanced studies in shamanism, Jungian psychology and psychoanalysis and to create and produce electronic space music! Yeah, right! I hate,admire and am jealous of people like Ms Bowles, who can do so much!!
In 1993 Meg released her first two albums. Inner Space and Solstice Dreams. She followed those two albums with a critically acclaimed album Blue Cosmos in 1996. Her fourth album is From the Dark Earth arose out of a series of commissioned works written for trumpet and synthesizer. The album features David Bilger Principal Trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2011 Meg released her fifth albumA Quiet Light. It is a collection of contemplative ambient works which explore reflections of the numinous in nature. Next came The Shimmering Land in 2013. That album was voted Best Ambient album by Zone Music Reporter!
About Evensong
Which brings us to Evensong, and leaves me wanting to go back and listen to all its predecessors. Evensong is “a meditative reflection upon the ritual spaces of evening, both light and dark, and a tribute to the beauty of planet Earth”.
Yesterday morning Evensong became the soundtrack for my morning yoga routine and meditation. It was a great soundtrack. It worked particularly well as the soundtrack for my meditation. So much so, this afternoon as I was writing this post I stopped for ten minutes for another short meditation using Evensong as the soundtrack. The tracks I chose were “Chalice of Shadows” (4), “Berceuse for a Star Child” (5) and a part of “Evensong” (6.) Once again the music was entrancing and helped make it a wonderful all be it short meditation. Meg writes the following about The first two pieces……
As darkness descends, inky shadows appear (“Chalice of Shadows”) and, as Bowles states, “It is a time to drink in the darker edge of twilight which can be perceived as haunting and mysterious, especially as the fading light casts shadows into strange shapes, making familiar things look alien. While evening can be an invitation to face one’s own shadow, it is also a numinous time of awe when colors deepen and the sky slowly opens up to reveal a myriad of stars.” This contemplation of the cosmos leads into her “Berceuse for a Star Child.” “A berceuse is a lullaby; this particular one is really for the ‘soul child’ in all of us, because we are all star-seeds from afar. Everything is stardust, which connects us all to each other and to the Earth, and the Cosmos beyond.”
Thoughts About Meg Bowles’ Music
After I had finished yesterday morning’s yoga and meditation i thought about Meg’s music.I thought the music reminded me of the space music of Jonn Serrie. At the time, I had not read that Meg had left the world of derivative trading to create electronic space music,! Lookig now at Jonn Serrie’s page at Spotify I see, she is listed as one of the artists people would like if they like the music of Jonn Serrie! I agree!
The Bottom Line s Evensong is one of the best New Age albums I have listened to this year! And I almost missed it!
So Check out Evensong:Canticle for the Earth. As for me, I just turned on The Shimmering Land!
You can read more about Meg and Evensong here at the New Age Music Guide.
Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of Meg Bowles
Artist’s Website
Twitter
Facebook
CDBaby
Bandcamp
Here is Evensong……
