David Arkenstone - Colors of the Ambient Sky (2018) [Official Digital Download]

×

David Arkenstone - Colors of the Ambient Sky (2018) [Official Digital Download]

Close

For his latest (and his 65th!) album, Colors of the Ambient Sky, David Arkenstone makes two distinct departures from most of his more recent releases. One is that this is a completely solo album with no other musicians, and, two, it's an entirely electronic album, and I do mean electronic with a capital E. In fact, this is, to my mind, his most EM recording to date, with many nods to the early days of the genre (early '70s through late '80s/early '90s). Wielding an assortment of keyboards and synths, many of which have a decided and ear-pleasing retro sound, Arkenstone plots his musical course for outer space, with track titles such as Red Sun, Starlight Starbright and Rainbow Galaxy. Unlike the more drifting style of some of the space music genre's artists, Arkenstone inserts an abundance of rhythmic textures and electronic beats, bringing to mind the Berlin school of EM and other 'continentals' such as Jean Michel Jarre and also artists on the Dutch Groove Unltd label. Throw in some chill-out stylings (e.g. the aforementioned Starlight Starbright and plenty of superbly layered ambient textures, liberally sprinkle just the right amount of melodicism, and voila! Colors of the Ambient Sky is ear candy of the highest quality oh so sweet but never saccharine, bouncy without being frivolous, and produced with an insane attention paid to every detail. Arkenstone hits another one out of the park, folks! –Bill Binkelman - Wind and Wire