THE MARRIAGE OF THE SUN AND THE MOON

Seattle-based Aaron English keeps up the good work on his sophomore release. The influences from progressive rock and world music is dampened quite a bit compared to his debut, but there's still remnants of those genres spread throughout this release.

"The Marriage of the Sun and the Moon" has a greater feel of contemporary rock, more straight forward tunes and less of the jazz/fusion/world influences as a whole.

Still, his songwriting ability is just as good on this release as it was on his debut - and his killer version of "Message in a Bottle" has to be heard to be believed. It's an achievement to both make a version that is better than the original as well as make this somewhat overplayed track sound fresh and interesting again.

This really hurt at first. After having been charmed senseless by "All the Waters of this World", I sat down to play English's follow up and was so disappointed I shelved it for a few months. He had taken an unsubtle turn to commercial rock, harder and slicker, so no further investment was required, right? Not quite. After all, this guy earned my attention for at least one subsequent release, so I gave it a few fair auditions and had to conclude that the "Marriage of the Sun and Moon" might actually not end in a bitter divorce.

English shows himself to be a fan of decidedly more mainstream and less exotic music like FLEETWOOD MAC in "Thin Ice", which is actually one of the better tracks, and even more clearly, the POLICE in a dreadful, albeit unconventional remake of "Message in a Bottle". But "Weeping Wind" is this artist's most celtic sounding tune and it works in the reflective and suggestive manner of his best earlier work. Both "Crossing the Desert Crossing the Sea" and "Anywhere-En-Up Street" are full out band tunes that show English could still muster progressive tinged AOR when called upon, even if "Brittle" is aptly named and his piano ballads this time around are to the dull side of banal ("Me and my Rainshadow"). For the first time, some humor is interjected with "God Bless you and your man". It utilizes clever wordplay to tell the tale of a guy who knows he's better than the object of his affection's object of affection, but he just can't convince her of that. The songwriting is witty and nuanced enough that the track surpasses the limitations of a novelty song.

"The Marriage of the Sun and Moon" combines shadow and light just effectively enough to avoid an eclipse, even though it doesn't hold a candle to its predecessor.