Plutonian Shore is : Sean Mulligan : Electric and Acoutic Guitars, 4 & 5 String Bass Guitars Michael Dawson : Synthesizers, Samples, Electronic Drums and Percussion The tracks are : 1. Harbinger (6:28) 2. The Golden Veil (7:10) 3. Runaway (3:37) 4. Mare Imbrium (3:39) 5. Time And Tide (7:19) 6. Masque (6:38) 7. Silvertongues (4:10) 8. Wednesday's Child (5:51) 9. All She Wrote (4:00) 10. Montségur (4:52) 11. The Mountains Of Heaven (9:56) 12. Regeneration (3:53) Plutonian Shore was formed in 1996 by composers Sean Mulligan and Micheal Dawson for the purpose of furthering their shared vision of creating music crafted to move the emotions, awaken the spirit, and ignite the imagination. Utilizing a variety of musical styles as a palette, Sean and Michael paint scenes of forgotten times and far-away places, regions where the future meets the ancient and eternal. although their work stands well on it's own, Plutonian Shore's music seems best suited for the film score medium. 'Arcana' was released in late june of 1998. In approaching the music for 'Arcana', they both gave thier imaginations full reign, unleashing music al forces of considerable dramatic power and texture, grandly deploying deep atmospheres, exotic sounds, rich melodies, and massive blocks of dense orchestral color. Plutonian Shore have recently produced six different and fully-produced limited series promos or "Mini-Albums". Each CD_R features a single overall mood, genre, or musical style. They are 'Ignis Fatui', 'Skindeep', 'Destiny Hunt','Relics', 'Waterborne', and a compilation disc containing highlights from all five of the aforementioned discs. Sean and Michael are planning to release 'Portents' in the mid-winter of 1999. 'Portents' is a full length, special limited edition album featuring a collection of original symphonic overtures and suites. The opening track is 'Harbinger', starts off being quite eerie with some nice percussion, a deep synth sound and a bell ringing out. This is followed by a change in direction were the music goes into a kind of Russian dance theme, but this doesn't last long before there's another change in direction and the music becomes more orchestral and symphonic, sounding more like a battle march. This gradually builds up creating quite a lot of tension within the music. Then after a while the music then quietens down a little and becomes more atmospheric, but once again this doesn't last long with some heavier tones coming in (the battle has commenced, well, this is my interpretation), and then it's back to the orchestral, symphonic sounds. Just before the end the music changes direction once again and becomes more atmospheric. The next track is 'The Golden Veil', this starts off, with what sounds like some Middle Eastern chants, this is followed by the most wonderful atmospheric keyboards sequence, I have heard in a long time. There's also some nice bass, percussion and guitar running along side. There's also a Middle Eastern influence within the music at times throughout this track. The third track 'Runaway', starts off with some nice keyboards, then in comes the electronic drums, with a nice beat to them, quite uptempo. The keyboards and drums seem to work hand in hand if that makes any sense, following the same beat and pattern, but not all the time, there's also some nice heavy guitar and some wonderful keyboard instrumentals. The next track 'Mare Imbrium', this track starts with some nice intricate guitar work, with the keyboards mainly in the background. Then there's a change in direction with the guitar becoming even more dominant. Towards the end the keyboards come in at an equal level with a choir type voice. 'Time And Tide', this track is more atmospheric. Quite mellow, the music just seems to flows along on the crest of a wave. The synth sounds are just so soothing, relaxing, it just makes you want to close your eyes and use your imagination. In the middle there's some acoustic guitar added and also towards the end there's also some acoustic and electric guitar added and this creates a bit more tension. The sixth track 'Masque', the acoustic guitar and keyboard sounds give this track a medieval theme. But I also get the feeling of love and sadness too. The next track 'Silvertongues', starts with some atmospheric keyboard sounds and then drums, bass and piano is added. The music then builds up. In the middle section there's a short atmospheric break and towards the end the keybaords take a more dominant role. 'Wednesday's Child', this track starts off with the sound of rain and thunder, and as the rain starts to fade away, in comes a piano and soon after a synth is added. Then the music gradually builds up with more keyboards sounds being added giving the overall sound aquite a haunting eerie kind of edge , and as this builds up this more me creates more tension. there's quite a classical element to the music on this track too. The ninth track 'All She Wrote', this is more of a slow blues track, with some lovely echoey guitar sounds and a sax sounding synth sound. Later on there's some nice piano added. The next track 'Montségur', starts off with some classical inspired keyboards, quite orchestral sounding. this gradually builds up, then suddenly fades and some intricate acoustic guitar comes in. Then it's back to the orchestral sound, once again building up, then it mellows out. This track is like to listening to a classical piece except that most of it's done on keyboards. 'The Mountains Of Heaven', this track starts with some nice intricate guitar, shortly after mellow keyboards are added and then the drums. After a while there's a change in direction and the keyboards sounds take on more of a Oriental flavour. The Oriental theme is then carried out for the rest of the track with some excellent keyboards, acoustic guitar and drums/percussion. The final track 'Regeneration', this track is the heaviest on the album, the guitar has a heavy rock sound to it, while the keyboards are fairly mellow and atmospheric. Well, even though I liked this album ever since I first played it, it has grown on me even more. Arcana is an album to be listened to, preferably with headphones on, then you can just drift away to the textures and atmosphere of this wonderful album. Arcana is full of Classical and Progressive Rock elements with glimpses of the Middle East and Oriental influences. Personally I love it and if you like Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno then I suggest you order your copy today. Highly Recommended!!! For information about obtaining the Arcana CD, send mail to: Laughing Sage Creative Services 6841 Via Irana Stanton, CA 90680 Website : http://www.laughingsage.com Email : laughingsage@laughingsage.com To contact the band, or for general information, send mail to: Echelon Entertainment P.O. Box 4605 Redondo Beach, CA 90278 Email : echelon@laughingsage.com |