Into the Quiet

Into The Quiet – Spotted Peccary Music SPM-9066

“There are those that come into our lives, crossing pathways until they tread softly into the quiet, ” reflects Deborah. “We live in a world of sound which when oversaturated can affect thoughts and actions. When the noise is removed, one can hear in the silence.”

1. About the album Into The Quiet

The synergy and depth of the sounds and…

…the “stillness” in the layers that you can hear in this collaboration comes from the combination of the electronic music with woodwind instruments. There is something very magical about the serenity of nature, with the spirit of the wilderness. Listening to the delicate and focused musical moments, keeping to the direction of our dreams, and always remembering to cast our eyes upon the stars from time to time.

Deborah Martin’s passion is to visualize and create music that takes each listener on a journey through time and space, exploring the depths of thematic composition through the process of creative layering of structured studio recorded compositions and live recordings of instruments, blending them into a world of ambient electronic expression.

Jill Haley is an accomplished symphonic orchestra player, teacher, and church musician; she is an oboist, English horn player, pianist and composer who visits National Parks in the United States, often as an Artist-in-Residence, and composes music about the park while living there.

This album…

…Into The Quiet delves deeply into the vastness of empty spaces filled with sounds of the adoration of the Earth, seeking an understanding of natural phenomena, and finding commonalities between all living things, things that are best studied as a whole. Their impact on ambient, electronic, and acoustic music may not be recognized in our time, the music business being how it is, but it will surely be influential.

In reviewing their first album, The Silence of Grace, my thoughts were immediately guided into the wonderment of the wilderness. Being outdoors and connecting with Mother Nature is probably as close to heaven as you can possibly get on this Earth. What I hear is the sound of intuitive understanding, ability, awareness, expertise, grasp, familiarity, knowledge, understanding, experience, discipline, a certain mystical wisdom to the elusive existential question of our very existence.

2. The tracks

We are somewhere below the surface looking up…

…into the sky, through a tear in the fabric of classicism. The opening track is “Sleeping Giants” (4:35). Tumult and chaos stop, and a reprieve is granted. Emerging from the caves down below, I hear the musical breathing of the gargantuan ones, and the voice of nature. Do I hear rustling water sounds, a distant windy beach? The feeling is sad and wonderful at the same time.

The resting giants moan softly but since they are so big for a moment the floor almost vibrates. Swirling, twirling, weightless, we recognize that it is fine to be powerless. With a clear sharp sustained ting, perhaps signaling the breaking dawn amongst the spheres, the next track title evokes in me the thought of a vertiginous ride. Instead find peace. Perhaps time is sustained, or suspended, or that time is open, think of flowing water, slow and calm, forming into columns and large shapes. “Falling Away From the Earth” (6:22), exiting the planetary orbit proves to be a smooth ride, the restful harmonious mood sustains and gently advances the peaceful and easy feeling, bringing deeper medieval colors and embellishments.

A perfect dawn soundtrack, warm pools in…

…the forest and the perfect spice of electronica, new machines throbbing and glowing nicely, flowing warmth expanding and breathing, runs and relays realization relaxation rolling on flows. “Into the Quiet” (8:32) Silence the daily noise to gain awareness of what exists in the quiet. Now we have arrived, ringing, and celebrating, joyful soaring and cello vibrations. “Reaching the Ambient” (4:23) feels like we are all opening into new worlds, flowing like water and shadows, always uplifting with a sense of support and security. The ambient can be a gentle place with healing powers.

Now perhaps we are in a forest or maybe a jungle. The next track suggests the concept of “Refuge” (5:08), perhaps in nature, portrayed by woodwinds and darkly sparkling synthesizers. Humans and nature have lived together for thousands and thousands of years. Each natural object was carefully placed as if Mother Nature had a specific outcome in mind. I hear adventure, slowly coiling songs establishing a foundation high in the mountains, an anthem of hope, “Elements” (4:11) What everything is made of. Imagination and will for making this life better in the future with layers of detailed hand percussion and harps and some rare ghostly choruses passing somewhere in the dark, here and back again for a moment, going to the moon to play music rather than mining or opening a station for visitors.

The track “Hall of Whispers” (5:36) is…

deliciously ominous and dark, calm, and interesting, sometimes ghostly. In my imagination, again and again the ghostly chorus passes by chanting. There is no dangerous tension, there is plenty of mystery, and always hints of a somber hidden chorus of giants, haunting voices with no words. Entering the realm of silence allows one to hear the echoes of whispers. I hear a cave, a sad story, somehow finding a way out. You know the cave is big, so big that there is no end ahead, so the darkness tells a story weaving deep hidden voices, swaying, and riding on the backs of large creatures in a caravan.

The beauty that surrounds the Earth is both grand and subtle, come to the edge and look outward, explore with your ears a different walking path today, seek out that rugged vista, the river and its tributaries, and the wind calling, feeling as if you have found the very edge of the world, embarking on adventures that no one has before.

Maybe because late spring makes it so easy to imagine abundant violets, rich dark thick night colors, calm, and abundant flowers, and I imagine moonlight on blooming royal calm purplish blue petals. What if we were deep underwater moving slowly amidst huge, submerged objects and beings, through wide open spaces going on forever? “Violet Night” (4:27) .

3. Epilogue

Imagine a mountain forest spa for your ears, calm and refreshing, always curious, carefully exploring the peaceful mint shadows, discovering expanding vistas and the sound of distant calling cranes and the hidden woodpeckers, with whirling circles and swirling flights, weaving waves and drones, gently remembering to slow down. Deborah Martin and Jill Haley are two multi-instrumentalists who are arriving at an immense new synergy, bounteous mystical wisdom, sharing their growth as artists while developing that musical connection and language. Sounds have color; calm, peace, stillness-these are violet. A feeling of calm emergence, chords and ringing metal opening into a rich palette of colors, cerulean calm, a spectral color constantly modulating blending slightly ghostly with a strengthening feeling, sparkling details, and lingering loveliness, extravagance, individualism, vanity, and ambiguity.

4. Where to buy the album Into The Quiet?

You can buy the album Into The Quiet at the store of Spotted Peccary Music and Bandcamp.

Written by Robin James, June 1st, 2023