A Peaceful Event showcases a tremendous narrative skill by Ian Green, telling a story with nothing more than a piano. The arrangements that he utilizes during the onset of Starlight are incredibly deep while being delicate, intricate without bogging down the overall sound of the album. Cycles of Sound speeds things up considerably, showcasing Green’s ability to stop and change styles on a dime. The more playful sound of this composition provides listeners with a sense that Green’s influences are more varied than he lets on; by increasing the spontaneity of what is to follow on Starlight, the remainder of the album will continually surprise anyone that listens in.
Rippling Waters is a short track by popular music standards – 2:39 – but Green puts so much material in this effort that listeners will have to play the track multiple times before every twist and turn and each variation in tempo and tone can fully be understood. What seems on first blush to be fairly simple is definitely difficult when a careful ear is given. There are rapid shifts in the overall speed and interesting buttresses between lines that will resound loudly with listeners long after the disc has ceased.
Starlight, the titular effort, feels more grounded in classical music than the previous efforts on the disc. Green’s ability to unite this composition with the rest of the fare on Starlight showcases a careful hand and a maturity that few artists can maintain over the course of an album. Ian Green’s Starlight concludes with White Sound, a composition which unites the disparate elements crafted during the album while providing listeners with some semblance of where Green may go in the future.
Top Tracks: A Peaceful Event, Cycles of Sound
Rating: 8.6/10
Ian Green Starlight CD Review / 2015 Self / 7 Tracks / www.musicbyiangreen.com/
Ian Green Starlight CD Review
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