Album Review: The Front Porch of Heaven by Kevin Keller

Kevin Keller is an award-winning pianist and electronic music composer who has released numerous albums over the years. Having composed music for film and television, Kevin’s work has been featured in documentaries for the History Channel and received airplay on nationally syndicated radio programs. With musical roots inspired by innovative musical legends like Tangerine Dream, Wendy Carlos, Brian Eno and Harold Budd, Kevin’s own work is often described as ambient chamber music that blends minimalist classical and ambient-electronic styles.

Inspired by the existential and often-asked question, “When we die, where do we go?”, Kevin Keller’s latest album, The Front Porch of Heaven, came to fruition after he underwent open heart surgery. Having the foreknowledge that he’d be close to death – unconscious and without a heartbeat while placed on life support – Kevin returned from the edge of the unknown with the inspiration to compose what is easily his most beautiful set of compositions to date.

Comprised of six instrumental passages spanning just under forty minutes, The Front Porch of Heaven boasts hauntingly affecting soundscapes featuring melodic ambient sequencing, sparse piano notes, shoegaze electric guitar and subtly cinematic strings throughout. Right from the opening piece, we’re gently led through what feels like an endless mirrored corridor, wherein beautiful dreams and sacred memories are projected everywhere by surrounding incandescent light. Warm, organic and flowing, the pieces are mostly propelled along by gently pulsating rhythms, all while evoking feelings throughout of longing, nostalgia and subtle emotional tension.

As a near-death survivor myself, The Front Porch of Heaven not only explores a subject close to home that I can personally relate to, but does so with inexplicably beautiful perfection. While I highly enjoyed Kevin Keller’s previous two albums, Ice Worlds and La Strada, this album goes even deeper emotionally and gets to the heart – both figuratively and literally – of the composer behind the sonic splendor.

Enthusiastically recommended to fans of artists like Tangerine Dream, Patrick O’Hearn, Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie, The Front Porch of Heaven is a beautifully brilliant work that lingers on long after the journey has ended! ~Candice Michelle

Available at Amazon, Bandcamp & iTunes. For more information, please visit the artist's website.

PGM 239: Autumn Rain

A contemplative ambient/minimalist piano mix to convey a rainy fall!

ARTIST – TRACK TITLE – ALBUM TITLE
Michael Brant DeMaria – Renascence – Ama
Lena Natalia – Lonely Satellite – Lonely Satellite
Joep Beving – Into the Dark Blue – Henosis
Michael Whalen – Hush the Night – Kiss the Quiet
Pangaea Projekt – Time to Dream – Winter, Vol. 4
Elena Talarico & Francesco Zago – The Circles – Then Elephant Speaks
Rob Simonsen – Ciel – ‎Rêveries
Aija Alsina – Reflection – Domum
Víkingur Ólafsson & Ryuichi Sakamoto – BWV 974: II Adagio (Rework) – Bach Reworks (Pt. 2)
Tale of Us – Distante – Endless
Jordan De La Sierra – Temple of Aesthetic Action (Pt. 3) – Gymnosphere: Song of the Rose
Keith Tippett – Dear Ireland – The Unlonely Raindancer
Aidia – The Fog Lifts – A Beautiful Fall

Album Review: Lonely Satellite by Lena Natalia

Lena Natalia is a Chicago-based pianist and composer who initially captured my attention a couple of years ago with her second album entitled Rendezvous in Paris (and follow-up to her debut release, Sundays in Paris). What especially drew me to Lena’s music was her unique brand of ambient-piano and classical minimalism that intriguingly sets her apart from a plethora of comparatively more “contemporary” and “new age” defined piano albums that I’ve heard over the past few years. Comprised of 15 compositions spanning 42 minutes – with all but one piece clocking in at under 4 minutes – Lena’s latest album titled Lonely Satellite further expounds on the subtle direction of last year’s release, Almost Home, with its uniquely processed effects applied to her piano. Utterly transforming Lena's otherwise solo instrumental pieces into duskily atmospheric, multi-tonal soundscapes, I find her compositions deeply affecting and often wistful with an air of reminiscent longing.

From the opening piece, “Ballerina at Night”, we’re met with an instantly memorable melody and Lena’s now-familiar style of interlocking piano figures. One of my favorites, “Munich Train 7H04”, is a shining example of Lena’s ability to imbue her compositions with a sense of haunting nostalgia. Here, as with other pieces, she achieves that by applying an echoing, reverberating effect and underlying rhythmic pulse. On “Lonely Satellite”, mellifluously cascading piano notes seemingly fall all around like raindrops onto an encircling puddle of water – making this an exemplary classical ambient piece of supreme beauty and coy elegance.

Overall keeping in line with a more minimalistic approach, Lena’s music isn’t noted by particularly overt crescendos or musical peaks throughout. Rather, her generally understated yet undeniably intricate compositions tend to beguilingly shimmer like filtered light beneath a watery surface. A musical genius in the realm of modern piano music, I expect Lena Natalia’s star will continue to rise ever-further in its sky! ~Candice Michelle

For more information please visit the artist's website. This album is also available at Amazon, Bandcamp and other retail & streaming platforms.

Artist Spotlight: An Interview with Lena Natalia

We’re excited to present an audio interview with Chicago-based composer Lena Natalia. Possessing a signature sound and style that could be described as ‘minimalist classical meets ambient piano’, she released her fifth album last year titled Lonely Satellite, which was named one of the top 25 albums of 2018 on Journeyscapes. In this segment, we’ll learn more about Lena Natalia, as well as her inspiration for Lonely Satellite. So please tune-in for a casual yet insightful conversation about music, the moon, and her muse!