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The Sounding Board by R J Lannan |
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RJ Lannan is the reviewer for The Sounding Board. |
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| Atlantis Lost |
| By Eric McCarl |
| Label: Self-Released |
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| Atlantis Lost tracks |
1. The Runner 
2. Prophecy
3. City of Light
4. Atlantis Lost
5. Vision Quest
6. Victoria
7. Silhouette in Red
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8. Song for GT
9. Interlude
10. No More Tears
11. Looking Back
12. Symphonique
13. Tell Me Why
14. Lost at Sea
15. Far Away
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Outside Inside Atlantis |
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A news bulletin caught my eye just days before I started on this review. "Atlantis discovered in Ireland". My theory is that Atlantis may not have been an island in the North Atlantic, or a supposed salt marsh in Spain or even a real place. After listening to Eric McCarl's new album Atlantis Lost, my theories may have been confirmed.
In the second installment of his Trilogy of Light, Atlantis Lost, Eric McCarl musically brings to vivid life emotional and spiritual concepts that have remained dormant for more than twenty years.
The first cut, The Runner, is a call to action as the story unfolds. Peril draws near and our Mercurial messenger has but a short time to give the cry of warning. Over craggy rock and sandy shore the runner presses on to the city of Atlantis. There is an incredible sense of urgency in the music as McCarl draws from Mozart’s Symphony #25 in G minor. The music has that “silent movie” feel to it that raises an alarm and that paves the way for the forthcoming action.
Atlantis Lost, the title track is one of the longest and best cuts on the album. It is a wonder how McCarl can get so much music out of one piano. The song is a contemporary number with threads of emotional nuance woven throughout. Although we still do not know exactly what cataclysm befell the great paradise of Atlantis, we feel the incredible sense of dispossession. It is as if the pointed finger of some unseen god has poked a hole in our own universe only to let escape all of our sense of well-being. Could this be what Adam and Eve felt at the loss of their paradise? As I listened to this song, I could not help but think of all the people in Florida who were victims of hurricane Charley. I cannot even for a moment pretend to understand their pain of loss.
Tell Me Whyis one man’s search for the answers. Twenty years ago when McCarl originally wrote down these notes he could not possibly have known that today he would be searching for the answers to some of the same questions he had as a younger man. As in the fall of Atlantis, man questions the very wisdom of the gods, or when towers are destroyed by hurtling jetliners or when one man’s life is taken by terrorists for a crooked concept of justice. Maybe if we had the right questions? Tell Me Why is my favorite cut on Atlantis Lost.
A sense of yearning is evident in Eric’s contemplative finale Far Away. There is a lightness to it that is less obvious in the rest of the album. Perhaps it is a respite after a stormy occurrence. It is calming like the first golden rays of the sun as it peeks out of the ocean. It is like the first sip of a cool drink of water. Unfortunately, it only makes us want more of the same and sometimes it is… far away.
Eric McCarl’s second offering, Atlantis Lost, is refreshment for the weary spirit. Using a highly polished mirror made of music, our vision is turned inward as we struggle for the answers. His music reinforces the fact that we are stronger than we think and there is more hope available than we know. Atlantis Lost is different from Seeking the Light. In some ways it is more sophisticated, yet it remains complimentary to McCarl’s’ overall theme.
For Eric McCarl’s biography see my review of Seeking the Light.
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Rating: Excellent  |
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- reviewed by RJ Lannan on 9/9/2004 |
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