Terry Lee Nichols – A Sky That Knows Our Names
Terry Lee Nichols – A Sky That Knows Our Names – Album Review
Personally speaking, I can’t help but appreciate the way a record like this begins, where you immediately feel like you’re immersed in the genuine culture of music via the perspective of a composer that fully respects and appreciates the art. The FLAVOR is outstanding on “The Celestial Traveler!” NO, I didn’t lick my computer screen as I listened…that’s not what I’m talkin’ about. I’m talkin’ about charisma, I’m talkin’ about color, I’m talkin’ about personality – these are the key ingredients that leap outta your speakers as this album gets under way. Of course, there are the other impressive components, like the animal sounds, the stunning percussion and rhythm section at-large…”The Celestial Traveler” is like the jam you find hidden in the heart of the jungle, and I’m stoked that I was lucky enough to stumble upon it! Dr. Livingstone, I presume? Heck no! This is Terry Lee Nichols, and once again he proves to be a true master of generating your interest through a whole series of remarkable sounds combined. As the instrumentation goes on to prove it’s as wild as the animals in the background, “The Celestial Traveler” is the right way to go about getting things moving in a way listeners are sure to continue the adventure.
“In The Beginning, Light Danced,” says Terry. I say brother, I’m on track two of your album now and I’ve already BEEN dancing! I don’t wanna say you’re late to your own party if you’re just dancing now, but did you HEAR “The Celestial Traveler” just prior to this? Besides…let’s be real here…you can dance to the first cut on this record, and, well…you’d probably have to get pretty inventive to do it on the second. What’s that? You say the title is metaphorical? Oh! My apologies. Ahh yes…I can see how that works now. Okay then – “In The Beginning, Light Danced.” I’ll be real with you…typically, this second track would normally be way more my thing than the first song was…and…truthfully, it probably still is – BUT, it’s a serious testament to how Terry got things movin’ and groovin’ on his opening track that I felt like it could give this second one a run for its money. I’d say the main difference, besides the obvious departure from one style of sound to the next, is that “The Celestial Traveler” feels highly interactive, almost like you can’t help but dance or get involved in your own way. With “In The Beginning, Light Danced,” you feel like you’re listening to something highly special…and it’s captivating and fascinating in that rare kind of way where you dare not move, lest you disturb the audibly precious atmosphere. It’s a real spellbinding song, and it builds into a truly epic conclusion that is honestly jaw dropping. That one extra step of adding in the vocalizations towards the end was the cherry on top – this is a gorgeous tune.
Rebekah Eden, who we were introduced to last year through Terry’s single “Love Is…,” continues to prove she’s the real force of nature to be reckoned with in these opening three songs. The animals all seemed tame compared to the bold and powerful tones she’s so equipped to summon and deliver so perfectly, which the ending of “In The Beginning, Light Danced” will give you a glimpse of right before she surges into the start of “Hadean Fire” to follow. One of the album’s longest cuts at over five & a half-minutes in length, “Hadean Fire” is another track that reveals the remarkable depths of Terry’s compositional skills and the ideas he works with. Going from the dark into the light, from intensity to serenity, you follow him on a journey in sound, riveted by the level of contrast involved. Production-wise, it’s not my favorite…I do think that there’s a little bit that gets lost in translation in this song at its most intense and whether it’s intentional by design, or the compression algorithms of the internet taking its toll on this track, this one gets a little bit more distorted than I felt he was probably going for. Sometimes that kind of stuff is more noticeable in music than other times…in a situation like this, where you have such enormous sound being followed by a more minimalist and peaceful moment, you really can’t help but notice when the clarity in the production gets restored back to its most smooth and polished. That being said, it doesn’t end up hindering this song as much as it potentially could have – the slight distortion was something I noticed, yes, but it was never to the point where it would put me off listening to “Hadean Fire.” Ideas are always what matter most to me, and as always with Nichols, there’s some great stuff to be found here. I mean, the transition around the 1:45 mark as you head towards the most intense parts of “Hadean Fire” for example…it can give you that same spine-tingling feeling as Mogwai’s “Auto Rock.” Then hearing it break into such wide open, beautiful sound like it does around the three minute mark, and the violin that spreads out stunningly along the surface afterwards…the contrast is remarkable here.
From the ominous-meets-majestic sound of the glow at the start of “Snowball Earth,” it feels like this track could go either way in terms of whether it’ll settle into the light or dark side of sound. Of course, Terry tends to find a unique way to include both in a lot of what he creates, and that remains to be true as “Snowball Earth” plays on. It keeps its low-end base as a constant for quite a while, but you’ll find that serenity you love from his music is displayed beautifully alongside it the entire time, and eventually, the song breaks into an exquisite piano melody to finish off its final minute and a half or so. All in all, there’s a ton of evocative sound in the mix here. I like that “Snowball Earth” feels like you’re witnessing something remarkable…you know, like you’re truly beholding one of the wonders of the world right there in front of you. And aren’t we, really? We give a whole lot of credit to visual wonders we can see with our eyes, but let’s be real here – music is THE wonder of ALL wonders on this floating rock we call home. “Snowball Earth” is a sincerely moving composition, where both of the main halves of its structure will hit you differently, yet still make a ton of sense to the ears when featured back to back.
The use of wind instruments and ambient sound sets the stage for “The Dawn Of Life” as the first half of Terry’s new album comes to a close. The longest track on the record, clocking in at exactly six minutes in total length, you’ll find what I’m sure you’re expecting to find at this point in listening, which is yet another immaculate adventure in sound to behold. It’s hard to describe…like…there’s so much music that we listen to that feels like…hmm…like a story that you know was visualized from start to finish before a single word was written, which can obviously be a great thing. With a lot of the music that Nichols creates, it almost feels like the opposite, and “The Dawn Of Life” is an excellent example to point to in that regard. There’s a genuine curiosity here…a willingness to go where the music takes him…and while I’m sure that’s all as painstakingly planned out and carefully composed as any of his tunes would be, I think that the way he’s continually finding these ways to communicate his ideas through music in such a natural & organic way should be seriously applauded. It’s not like he’s actively trying to deceive us, so much as he’s clever enough to find that sweet spot that exists between the realms of careful planning and unforced sound, which essentially has us gliding along with his music as we listen to how it all fits so seamlessly together. The piano breaks in his tunes are always welcome, and “The Dawn Of Life” has a beautiful one right in the center for ya, but overall, this is truly exceptional work all around. Right up there with my favorites on the record, “The Dawn Of Life” is stunningly conceived & composed.
With the piano being such a featured instrument on this album, and one of the sounds I most often look forward to in the music I tend to listen to, tracks like “Devonian Dusk” are pretty much guaranteed to connect with somebody like me. I’ve grown up with the piano and keyboards as being a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and as a result, piano-based tunes have always been very easy for me to love. Just as easy to rip apart when someone’s butchering something too mind you, but that’s never something I have to worry about with Nichols. “Devonian Dusk” feels like this wonderfully intimate moment in music that’s been specifically designed for me…I know that isn’t the case exactly, but it still FEELS like it, and ain’t that special in its own way? I’m sure Terry would be the first to tell you that he’s making music for YOU to enjoy, but that includes me as well, don’t it? I’m you too! I’m sure you get what I mean…”Devonian Dusk” plays like you’re the only one in the world that got the lucky honor of being there to listen…like you caught Nichol’s in a moment of inspired magic with nobody else around. I’ve enjoyed every song I’ve heard on this album so far, but “Devonian Dusk” might legitimately be my favorite of the entire set. Some tunes you can’t take your ears off of…and some tunes you don’t want to either – this is both. It’s by far the most minimal in terms of its ingredients and instrumentation, but if it isn’t the finest example of how that approach can yield the best results, I don’t know what else could be.
With the gurgling of some baby talk, “Babel” starts up with more ominous tones once again, sounding like the kid was born to make a conquest to the throne. I’m deathly averse to all-things-children, so for myself personally, the less I hear from like…any of them…usually, the better. Obviously it’s not the most consequential inclusion into this particular song, thought it does likely provide some additional insight into its theme & such. “Babel” is what you’d probably consider to be a more interesting artistic endeavor more than a tangible song by textbook definition…and that’s cool, you find plenty of examples of stuff like this in soundtracks & film scores…there’s lots of space out there for tracks like this to thrive within. As to what has this track sounding so dark for the majority of its length, I think that’s got a lot more to do with the direct story of “Babel” as told in the bible. Sounding like a Tim Burton/Danny Elfman-inspired idea with extra drama and flair added to it, “Babel” highlights that fearsome possibility of God being able to step right into your way of life and disrupt it in ways you couldn’t have conceived. Many of you religious folk will know this tale much better than I do, but I’m confident that we’d all hear how it could easily serve as the main inspiration for something that sounds like this. Loved the addition of whispering voices here too…”Babel” is one of this album’s more unique creations in many ways.
A song that’s a little more of the typical side of what you’d likely expect to find on many instrumentally-based records, would be “From Stone We Built The Sky” – and no, by no means am I implying that a more familiar DNA would make it a bad song by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a more intimate, fairly guitar-driven song…or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it’ll be the guitar parts that likely stimulate your interest and engagement the most…they’re the hooks of this song, essentially. It takes a while for them to be introduced into the sparkle of “From Stone We Built The Sky,” which is noteworthy. Really there’s at least a quarter of this four minutes, quite possibly more, that doesn’t feature the guitar at all…and I felt like those parts of the music were just as strong. Like, at the start, “From Stone We Built The Sky” is delicate & gentle and it sounds like a great fit, because it is – but you’ll hear how important it was to have included this part of the song so that it heightens the grippingly sensory vibe of the guitar-driven moments that follow. There are many great tunes out there in this world where one part will desperately need the other in order for both pieces to make the maximum individual impact that they’re capable of, at “From Stone We Built The Sky” is another clear example of how that relationship works.
“In Grateful Silence” is another cut that, similar to “Devonian Dark,” is built we sparing ingredients, but to full effect. It’s probably about halfway through the song before you get to your first note played on piano…before that, you’re drifting through the ether of atmospheric, ambient sound. “In Grateful Silence” is a stellar example of how a most complex sound, even when it’s ambient and minimalist in its composition, can still go on to reveal an even more stunning clarity as it transitions from one of its main ideas into the next. In some ways, “In Grateful Silence” is probably the closest to music I listen to in the precious few moments of personal time I get outside of listening to the tunes I’m writing about on this site of ours…I tend to listen to a lot of ambient tunes, and like I mentioned earlier, I’ll forever be in love with the sound of the piano. When that part of this song comes into play, I felt like “In Grateful Silence” was one of the prime tunes you can point to that we’d universally agree goes from good to great in that moment. It possesses the sweetness you’d find in tracks like “Avril 14th” by Aphex Twin as it takes over, and then draws powerfully on a reflective and reserved pace as the background sounds fade out behind it…and with about a minute left on the clock, you’ll find yourself at the edge of your seat hanging on to every note that’s played. “In Grateful Silence” is without question one of the most moving compositions to be found on A Sky That Knows Our Names and another highlight cut in the set as far as I’m concerned.
To be entirely truthful, I might have ended it on that song if I was in charge of laying this album out…it felt almost tougher to get back into the title track afterwards. If you’ve ever been to a party or a gathering where one vibe gets switched out for another and things get weird for a second or two as people try to adjust to a totally different atmosphere…that’s kinda what it felt like to me when we get to “A Sky That Knows Our Names.” Which, to be fair to Terry, is almost a little strange – it’s not like the song isn’t a cohesive fit with the rest of the content on the album, it most certainly is – which I guess is what makes me believe that it’s probably just placement in the lineup of the record, rather than Nichols including a song that doesn’t belong, you feel me? I still enjoy “A Sky That Knows Our Names” when I hear it – I’m just wondering if I might have enjoyed it more in a different spot in these ten tracks, and if the album would have also potentially benefitted by having such a conclusive finish in a song like “In Grateful Silence” instead. You know me…I’m just thinkin’ out loud in real time and musin’ on the music, man…take it or leave it. The real bottom line is that there’s precious little to pick on here at all – Terry should be mighty proud of this compelling lineup of compositions & how these songs came out overall. A Sky That Knows Our Names is a solid effort from start to finish, filled with inspiring and meaningful material all displayed through a stunning array of moods, atmospheres, and brilliantly expressive sound.
Find out more about Terry Lee Nichols from his official website at: https://www.terryleenichols.com
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