CELESTIAL CITY

While Jeremy's dreamy guitar leads are reminiscent of Oldfield and Hackett, the overall effect of much of this work is not that far from that of his fellow countryman Yanni. I do not really mean this as a put down. Yanni has over the years produced some noteworthy meditative new age music as well as some more up tempo pieces in that genre.

I am not sure if progarchives has a new age classification (I would guess not), but I would suggest that art rock is not really the ideal pigeonhole for Jeremy, but rather electronic music. In addition to the above named, I hear reminders of Asturias, Kitaro, and others of the mellower but emotive variety in that genre. I would have preferred that more of the tracks be grounded in some way rather than always floating, but enough good playing and appealing compositions and arrangements do emerge to save this one from the reject pile, in particular "Soaring", "Laser Love", the acoustic "Hour Glass", and the medieval "King's Court" all have a transportability that is not just to the inner, but also to imagined outer worlds in time and space. "Celestial City" is also a pleasant closer. Unfortunately, the two longest cuts are very meandering and do not satisfy as an overall work, in spite of some good moments.

Those who want to rock will not salute this, but fans with an interest in the mellow and contemplative may find enough to enjoy, although I daresay that better albums have been produced in this style. 2.5 stars rounded down.