My first album review on Stereofox, and I hope I do this musical masterpiece justice.
Patrick Avalon is a neoclassical composer, pianist, and vocalist whose music opens a space of stillness and luminous beauty. What a pleasure it was to discover his work through his latest EP, the water in stone. Calming, dreamy, ethereal, meditative, reflective. I could maybe go on all day picking the best words to describe this music.
Listen on Spotify / Apple Music
Avalon's musical world is built on sparse, minimalist piano and ethereal vocals, carrying a reverent, almost liberating quality, like the feeling of finally being able to breathe. It made absolute sense to me to learn that, apart from being a brilliant pianist and composer, before music, his first love was actually acting, and later, he spent a decade as a travelling yoga teacher, taking his practice across the world.
To me, this project sounds as if it has lived and truly experienced life. It sounds like wisdom. It reminds me of those old men with long white beards, living somewhere remote in the mountains, whom I've only ever read about in books. Solitary figures, quietly carrying all the knowledge and wisdom they've gathered throughout their long lives.
Stay up to date.
New music and exclusive updates in your inbox weekly.
the water in stone opens with "the ache of peace", evoking the atmosphere of a gloomy, rainy afternoon spent by a grand piano. I wonder if that's how he actually composes. I imagine his creative space exactly like this - a spacious room with a piano in the middle, large glass windows overlooking an endless open landscape, autumn leaves, birds flying freely, and raindrops falling gently on the rooftop. This piece feels like it's been carrying the weight of the world forever, and it's finally finding the courage to cry for help. I also love the way the piano is miked - we can hear the sustain pedal, the subtle creaking of the wooden hammers, and the soft felt cover of the quiet pedal. I personally love the intimacy of those little imperfections (used moderately).
"Only in the space of peace, do I find that aching and lonely child, the part of myself that has been waiting all this time. To be seen, to be held," he shares about the song.
From there, we're carried into "light in darkness". This one feels a little lighter and warmer, yet somehow lonely. I'm struck by how much a single vowel can express without the need for words. Certainly not many people can achieve that, but with Avalon, it feels like second nature.
Closing my eyes, and feeling my own spark of light within is a practice and space that gives me refuge from the whirling winds of change around me. The stillness is always there, feeling that ever-present love within. The feeling of our internal delicate child, perhaps a lonely soul, the essence that is everything that is waiting for us to acknowledge and be held. “light in darkness” was born from this space."
"the sea and I" brings a sense of a burden being lifted off one's shoulders, like finally being allowed to break free and take its first flight above the world and across the sea. There's a realisation of how beautiful our world can be, and that sometimes, unfortunately, we need to experience suffering before we can truly appreciate that beauty.
"Living next to the ocean has given me a new way to be in a state of witnessing. Witnessing the changing clouds, the moods of the water, the sounds of the birds and the breaking of the waves."
Closing this beautiful musical fairytale is "in esse", which, to me, carries a sense of gratitude, awareness and completion, expressed through much bolder and freer vocal explorations.
But what about being awake as we walk through this existence? When I sleep, I like to sleep deeply. When I am awake, I have found that being on the edge of creation, where the void is just beyond the earth that is materializing before my feet as I walk forward, is the most potent and vital area of life. I don’t need to be on the side of a mountain to feel this. It is there in my everyday quiet existence.
I hope that was enough to convince you to put all distractions aside for a moment, grab your favourite headphones, find a cosy spot at home you love, hit play, and, for the next 11 minutes and 9 seconds, let yourself be taken on this musical meditation. Happy dreaming!
