With "Incandescent", composer Hollan Holmes has delivered an excellent album that even beats his previous gem "The Spirits of Starlight". Mr. Holmes dedicated the album to the late Richard Burmer, who he admits had a profound influence on musical road taken since entering the electronic music domain in 2010 with his debut "A Distant Light". With the experienced Chad Kettering again in charge of the mastering, this newbie kicks off with three sequence-oriented, Berlin School-esque compositions with a slight minimal hook that all shift to a higher gear followed by evocative, textural soundscapes in a slower mode making up the other six tracks, making up an exciting 67-minute sonic journey with lots of cosmic cinematic flavors. The sequence-pattern of "Letting Go" doesn’t stray far from TD’s "Love on a Real Train", while the nice, overtly lush piccolo-like riff gracing the end of "Valley Of The Rocks" makes an honest bow to Richard Burmer. A track like "Interstellar Lullaby" is a gracious symphonic outing with anthemic hints sending shivers through my spine while I had to shed a few tears when "The inevitability of change" passed by. The deep end of things arrives in the last two pieces, where intriguing cloudscapes gather and spiral onward most gentle. It’s a thrill to dive into the high-quality content of Hollan’s fifth album, ride its captivating and sparkling sound waves, being captured by its intrinsic drive, awe and wonder along the various in-depth spaces/moodscapes it addresses. What a joy to play this stuff on a HQ audio system makes the most impression if you immersive the full outcome with quality headphones. Hats off to this talented composer for this most impressive and enchanting result that I’m sure will please (if not blow away) many ambient/space fans out there.
Bert Strolenberg
