Chris Conway, Guiding Light

I was a couple of hours into looping Chris Conway’s elegant suite of ambient drifts, Guiding Light, before I realized I’d been listening to it for a couple of hours. Then again, it’s subtitled “Music for Meditation,” so no surprise there. Conway’s music is soft and light, an easy flow of arcing synth pads blended with guitar, zither, Irish whistles and more, coming together in a classic New Age/healing music style. While it’s good of Conway to list these instruments in his liner notes, by and large they’re not distinct as instruments; they’re stretched and smoothed to textures and sensations of sound defining his theme of a journey toward the light. The base for the music was laid down in an inspired 55-minute improvisation on keys which Conway went back over to embellish and further texture with his additional instruments. Although Conway has his tracks broken out into 11 offerings, this is a seamless disc that moves easily through its 55 minutes, never giving you a reason to come up for air. As promised, this is music for meditation–deep meditation. In fact, you may go so deep you lose track of time. I know I did. This disc loops perfectly, quieting and warming the space around you and truly bringing a sense of calm. A gorgeous and engaging offering from Chris Conway.

Available from Chris Conway’s web site.