Timothy Wenzel – Summon the Wind
Fantastic electro-acoustic Contemporary Instrumental/New Age/Celtic music.
Over the last week or so the latest release Timothy Wenzel Summon the Wind has been in my music listening rotation. I spotted the album on the Zone Music Reported Chart for January where it was at number 6 on the chart. I had previously listened to Wenzel’s 2012 release A Coalescence of Dreams and his 2013 release River Serene and enjoyed both of the albums.According to Wenzel’s website, Wenzel “writes and plays highly engaging electro-acoustic Contemporary Instrumental/New Age/Celtic music.” From his biography……
His debut album, “Mountains Take Wing” was selected as a Best New Age Album of 2012 by New Age Music World. His second album, “A Coalescence of Dreams” (October 2012) received widespread airplay and acclaim, climbing to #6 in the International New Age Charts (Zone Music Reporter) in 2013. His third album, River Serene, also jumped into the top 10 at ZMR. It was mastered by Grammy Award winning engineer Corin Nelsen and was released November 23, 2013 on the Coyote Floe label. His fourth album, Summon the Wind, was released November 20, 2014 and was also mastered by Corin Nelsen. Timothy is a former Ph.D. chemist who radically changed direction in life by pursuing his other passion: music. He is also a weather geek, photographer and struggling sailboat racer. – Read More
Summon th Wind has been listened to several times, when I have been reading, the other morning it was playing while I did yoga and a short meditation. This evening it was again playing while I was reading and seemed to help make the pages fly by. One of the things that i like about progressive rock and to some extent New Age music is the concept album. The fact that the album is not just a collection of songs but that all the songs fit together to create a feel or tell a story, Summon the Wind as the title and the album’s cover art implies is about the wind. In the album notes Timothy Wenzel writes….
…I have been fascinated by the wind since I was a young child, climbing into the highest branches of the trees so that I might be at the mercy of its unpredictable and thrilling gusts. Storms both frighten and fascinate me. Later in life I learned to sail and thereby entered into a new dynamic with the wind.
But I really did not intend to create a theme album about the wind. It happened quite organically, albeit assisted by my near obsession with wind and weather…Read More.
On Summon the Wind Wenzel creates different moods with different lead instruments. On one track it may be th piano and on another it may be a guitar that flow through the accompanying instruments, which at times are voices.
A question that I often as myself, as I listen to many New Age and jazz albums is: Where do the titles of the songs come from? Other than a wheel of fortune like wheel that has names of songs on it! In the album notes Wenzel also addresses this question….
I have often been asked how I name a song or select its theme. That happens in two ways. Either I viscerally feel the meaning of the song as it develops or I actually hear lyrics. That is not to say I hear voices but rather the melody forms word combinations that resonate so strongly with my feelings that the title and meaning become obvious. The song simply names itself. – Read More
Bottom Line: Summon the Wind is a beautiful sonic experience. I certainly can see myself turning to Timothy Wenzel’s music as soundtracks for a variety of activities including reading and meditation and maybe even calming babies!!
Links for the Exploration of the Music of Timothy Wenzel
Website
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CDBaby
Here’s the title track from Summon the Wind……. Check out the album!