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Thank you for your interest in the The Martin Composium. It is our fondness hope that this music provokes and engulfs your innermost thoughts, hopes, and imagination. Below is a third party review of the CD. We believe it to be an accurate representation of our music. Listen, receive, and reflect … THE MARTIN COMPOSIUM Chasms Self-released (2003/2005) Review by Bill Binkelman of Wind And Wire Magazine. Darren Martin, with creative input from his wife Amy, records as The Martin Composium. Chasms, his first release, was originally recorded back in 2003, but sat on the shelf "gestating" for a while. He contacted me and asked me to give it a listen, and I was, frankly, blown away on my first listen. Surely, this can't be your first recording, I asked him in an email reply. He assured me it was. Well, if this is his starting point, I'd like to see where he will be in three or four more albums! Chasms is an excellent debut, blending ambient and new age music stylings in an almost seamless fashion, mixing drifting soundscapes with a strong sense of melody and attention to accessibility, without allowing the music to become too "pretty" or sugary, yet also not devolving into pointlessmeandering noodling. In short, Chasms represents the best of both genres. The opening title track begins with muted timpani and a rolling piano chord over a bed of ambient washes and synth choral effects. A crack of thunder introduces the repeated refrains of a quirky keyboard "wrinkle" and layers of lush synth strings, as the music becomes a lonely almost adagio-like piece, with hints of pastoral beauty. "Herring Bone Sky" is even more evocative and should appeal to ambient fans, as it's ushered in by a hushed warm drone and sparse echoed piano, sounding a tad like Harold Budd, although less melancholic. A plaintive ethereal whistling keyboard, solo synth cello, and the steady slow cadence set by a bass drum all combine to paint a lovely "quiet" song that carries a hint of sadness under the still serenity of it all. "Evening Swells" is also a highly visual song, bringing to my mind (despite the song's title) an early morning fog rising over an English village, with synth clarinet, harp, and strings conveying the "feel" of the sun rising slowly as light overcomes shadows. Martin uses two environmental sounds to flesh out the illusion: bird song and church bells. "Sheen" has a more overt EM/electronica sound to it, albeit in a slow tempo. In fact, it compares favorably to the music of Kit and Odette Johnson (Soundician), in its mixture of bell tones, underlying synths, and bass notes. Solo flute which floats over the undercurrents and quick-bowed strings veer the music into neo-classical territory, but overall the track still feels more like slowed-down chill-out than new age to me. Six of the eight tracks on Chasms are in the 3:30 to 5:00 range, two are longer pieces. Presence" clocks in at almost 13 minutes and it's a wonderful exploration of minimalism and the use of a repeated refrain. Fluid electronic undertones buoy the piano, short-bowed synth strings, church bells, and what sounds like a balalaika! Later on, the addition of some well-produced synth horns introduces some nice variety into the overall effect. "February's Loom" offers a glimpse into Martin's guitar playing skills, but in an ambient style (the guitar is recognizable as such but the music is undoubtedly of the ECM-jazz/ambient type) with keyboards flowing under the soft lead line, sometimes gently nudging over into a more overt style of impressionistic jazz, and other times intermixing with the synths to craft a melancholic tone poem, evoking images of grey skies on an autumn afternoon. As I near the end of my reviewing days (unless I return from my absence at some point), I am still delighted to discover an artist who appears seemingly out of nowhere and delivers a work of depth, imagination, and beauty. Chasms is hopefully just the tip of Darren Martin's iceberg. We can only hope that he has more to "say" because we'll be better for it. The CD comes highly recommended, with an extra dash of "wow!" for it being a home-recorded freshman effort! Track List: 1. Chasms 2. Herring Bone Sky 3. Livid Sonata 4. Evening Swells 5. Sheen 6. Presence 7. Febuary's Loom 8. Epilog Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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