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Binkelman's Corner by Bill Binkelman |
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Bill Binkelman is a long-time icon in the industry. |
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| Across the Water |
| By Eric Chapelle |
| Label: Hamsa Music |
| Released 4/8/2010 |
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| Across the Water tracks |
1. Every Wish
2. First Kiss
3. Straight Ahead
4. Soft Landing
5. MoPac
6. For Edna
7. Norton Island
8. Water Theme
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9. Across the Water
10. Rainmaker
11. Evora Amore
12. Remembrance
13. Sphagetti Eastern
14. Catching a Glimpse of You
15. Tide Pool
16. Wild Iris
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Across the Water |
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Apparently, the adage "All good things come to those who wait" can be applied to music. Pianist/keyboardist Eric Chapelle's last album, Our Time, was released way back in 1998. His brand new 2010 CD, Across the Water, proves to be well worth the long wait! Chapelle has both refined his considerable talent and also expanded it well beyond the boundary that fans of his debut release will likely expect. Across the Water is a polished and impressive collection of pieces that encompasses a broad range of evocations and explores equally diverse stylistic music environments, from melancholic tone poems to bouncy energizing chill-out numbers and reflective piano pieces. Chapelle obviously spent all those years working diligently on broadening his musical horizons.
Beginning with the beautiful yet sad Every Wish, on which he is joined by cellist Julia Cory, it's obvious that there is a new found richness and depth in Chapelle's composition and production. The well-produced synth strings from his debut are still there, but the integration of Cory's cello, as well as his own restraint in applying the synth accompaniment and his own plaintive piano playing beg comparison to Tim Story, which is a huge compliment from me as I consider Story to be one of the finest artists in the ambient/new age keyboard genre. "Every Wish" could easily hail from such landmark albums as Beguiled or The Perfect Flaw.
First Kiss, the next track, showcases Chapelle in a more stripped down setting, yet once again his piano playing and composing display a strong talent for evocative somber minimalism yet with enough melody to entice mainstream listeners. Soft Landing once again features cellist Cory and this cut may be the album's emotional "centerpoint" with Cory's mournful cello accented by Chapelle's sparse piano and his expert application of synthesized orchestrations.
Chapelle also displays a solid knack for effervescent bubbly "lite" electronica on Straight Ahead, MoPac, and Spaghetti Eastern, all of them highly unexpected delights. I hope the artist explores this subgenre in earnest on a future recording as his knack for meshing rhythm and melody is a real treat.
Nature sounds are expertly incorporated into a new age soundscape on Rainmaker, a nearly six minute excursion into soothing ambient-ish keyboards sans the usually present piano. The title track joins piano with accompanists John Inmon on guitar and Dawn Biega on cello and the song has an agreeable nostalgic feel to it.
Chapelle shows he can also carry the weight of songs all by himself with little or no embellishment, as he does on the somber Remembrance (accented only by sparse synth strings and chorals) and the tranquil solo piano pieces Norton Island and Catching a Glimpse of You.
No matter whether he is working with accompanists on cello, guitar, or accenting his piano with an assortment of high-quality electronic embellishments, or just sitting down at the unadorned ivories, Chapelle never fails to impress with not only his composing versatility or his emotive nuanced playing, but also his heartfelt commitment to producing music which manages to be both accessible yet individualistic. Inspired by his attendance at Maine's Norton Island Residency Program and the "profound experience of nature," Eric Chapelle translated those impressions into music and the result is this instantly enjoyable, richly textured album of instrumental music. Across the Water is a highly recommended recording and one can only hope that the wait for this talented artist's next release will be considerably sooner than the gap between his first and second works.
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Rating: Very Good +  |
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- reviewed by Bill Binkelman on 5/6/2010 |
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