Albert Alan Owen - Following The Light LP

Quite simply one of the most stunning records there is. Recorded in 1982, 'Following The Light is the third album by British composer Albert Alan Owen recorded for the Apollo Sound Label. Originally specialised in library music, by the mid 70s the label perceived a gap in the modern classical market and commissioned contemporary musical pieces from new composers, aiming to provide atmospheric backgrounds for film, television and advertising and to feed the burgeoning demand for ‘New Age’ music at the time. While certainly melodic, Owen’s music makes no concessions to mid-afternoon mindfulness; instead, 'Following The Light' is a deep and immersive listening experience, clearly the work of a singular musical imagination following its own rules in its own way. With the help of Katherine Sweeney on violin and Milada Polasek on electric piano and organ, Albert Alan Owen recorded Following The Light in “live” condition, taking profit of a strong use of the digital effects which were in its infancy at the time. There are echoes of Reich and Riley, in the use of delay and in the rolling repetition, though there is something more lyrical, more humane at work in the music. The result is a singular piece of music of sheer beauty, a record that stands outside of time and place, all bathed in magic hour light. Further more Libreville Records have put all the necessary care to make this reissue sound (and look) amazing. Essential! (review mostly ripped from Jack Rollo’s ever excellent liner notes)