Escape finds Steve Jolliffe blending leading-edge digital technology with the amber resonances of traditional acoustics. The album starts out with a sneaky, waltz-like number displaying rich melodies intertwined with exuberant rhythms. The music at times is wild and eclectic in its progressive expression, escaping into soothing and somber tomes, distant and ancient. His musical sketches reveal an underlying complexity, imbued with classical undertones and beauty. Atmospheric and stretched out yet concise, Jolliffe’s music plays proper homage to Tangerine Dream, with artistic nods to Patrick O’Hearn and Mark Isham, to Norwegian synthesists Oystein Sevag and Erik Wollo and to French countrymen Bernard Xoloti and Jean Michael Jarre. The digital-orchestra sound and Teutonic touches, coupled with spacey phrasing even bring to mind the Erdenlang label.
