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Acoustic Ocean is a duo comprised of Morgan on Celtic harp, acoustic guitar, vocals and rain stick and Phelan on acoustic guitar, vocals, bass, piano, hammered and mountain dulcimer, mandolin and "other instruments." Their CD, Light Returning, is a good example of a great idea marred (sadly almost fatally) by poor execution. I say sadly because I was pulling for this CD; it seems the artists are earnest and sincere in hoping their music will have a positive effect on people. In addition, what they are attempting to do here is ambitious and unique which only increased my desire to give them a good review. However, at best, this album is one of those which fall into the "ambitious miscalculations" category. Of course, Robert Browning wrote "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for?" so rather than just throw this one on the "Uh uh" pile, I decided to write this review and do my best to emphasize what works as well as what doesn't, hoping my criticism will serve to guide the duo in their next effort.
The eight tracks on Light Returning each revolve around a musical theme which is introduced on the Celtic harp and slowly envelopes other instruments, gradually allowing variations on the initial theme to permeate the piece. Besides the musical instruments, a variety of nature sounds (well-recorded, in fact, in and of themselves) are also interwoven in each cut. So far, so good, right? In fact, I can't fault any one of these individual elements. Both artists are adroit and proficient on their instruments, of that there's no doubt.
What derails my enjoyment of this album, and undercuts the CD's potential overall success, is that the "whole" simply doesn't work. It's odd, but this is the rare album where the WHOLE is LESS than the sum of the parts (the opposite is usually true). I can't pinpoint why this is the case, although a large part of this failure must reside with the engineering mix itself. It's muddy to the point of being indistinct and haphazard. According to the liner notes, there is "binaural panning" present on the CD but all I hear is a mishmash jumble. I can pick out the various instruments and sound effects, but there is no spatial balance at all. The utter lack of separation of the various music tracks (not tracks as in songs but as in tracks on the mixing board) means that the nature sounds, the dulcimer, the guitar, and whatever else is in the mix just coalesce as a whole, which, to my ears, is simply not as pleasant as if all the components co-existed as equal but separate. Because of this, each track is great for the first minute or so, but then each one devolves into a miasma of overlapping sounds that, well, basically get in each other's way. I have to think the mixing and engineering is at fault here, because the music itself, if one digests it through headphones by isolating it, is not just pretty but VERY pretty. The harp playing, in particular, is soulful and evocative (of course, I'm a huge fan of the Celtic harp). And the nature sounds are, as noted above, great examples and I only wish they were better integrated into the music.
Perhaps, if one played Light Returning solely in the background, the faults I have addressed might not be discernible. As a reviewer, I "listen" to music, so I have reported what I heard. By seeking some sort of immersive listening experience and (unfortunately) under-emphasizing any single instrument's contribution over another and, also, striving for a "surround" sound mix (as opposed to one where the separate instruments were easily placed within the sonic recording environment, i.e. "the guitar is over THERE and the harp if over THERE"), the artists have gutted the emotional resonance of the otherwise lovely melodies. It's a technical issue that indie artists who self-produce all face, and in this instance, it's impacted the end product to the point of my not being able to recommend the resultant recording.
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