Tia Knight - Homequest (2002)

Tracklist:
01 - Homequest
02 - Illusions
03 - Soldiers Requiem
04 - Perfect Love
05 - Sojourn
06 - Not Mine
07 - Jesters Folly
08 - Chesterfield Roses
09 - Fatimas Dream
10 - Betrayal-Act 2
11 - Flaggstaff In Arms


Amazon review:
An ethereal romance of a CD, Homequest is a hauntingly beautiful release from Tia Knight, a New Age composer whose music fuses electronic sounds with a wide variety of medieval and fantasy elements. Tied into this sense of romance, however, is a darker edge, a sense of cynicism that makes the intricacies of her music all the more fascinating and sets her apart from the dreamy wistfulness of so many other New Age musicians. It is no wonder that among her credentials are a song used in a stage adaptation of Frankenstein and several pieces to be included in the upcoming film, Untold Vampire Tales.
Homequest evokes the Pre-Raphaelite artists who so often balanced images of medieval fantasy and chivalry with more sinister elements, such as the many paintings of La Belle Dame Sans Merci, the beautiful yet evil woman taken from Keats' poem, who bewitches those knights and nobles who are unlucky enough to cross her path. These multifaceted compositions both entrance and unnerve, and Knight's music has the same quality, simultaneously attractive and spine-chilling. The CD's title track is actually the lightest piece on the album, a neo-medieval etude that reflects the elation of coming home after a long quest, along with the trepidation one might feel after such an absence.
"Illusions" features eerily familiar yet unplaceable vocals dubbed over the synthesized fantasia of a song; it weaves a fragmentary story in one's mind, leaving it up to the listener to fill in the missing pieces.
"Soldier's Requiem," on the other hand, is disturbingly at odds with its title. Less like a funeral hymn than a gavotte or pavane, its dance-like tempo sways on as if the dancing and celebration continues, despite loss in an uncaring world. This irony continues into other tracks, such as "Betrayal," where subtle strings creep along in a dance of deception that conjures up images of a Machiavellian dance party. In contrast, the piece "Sojourn" combines electronic sounds and synthesized vocals with bells, zils, and flutes, in a Tolkein-esque escape into fantasy. The hypnotic "Fatima's Dream" and "Perfect Love" fuse techno beats with medieval and Middle Eastern influences.
Tia Knight's works are odes to the imagination and the power of creativity and fantasy. Their refreshing mixture of sweet and caustic is a welcome change from so much New Age music, and will appeal to a wide variety of musical tastes.