New Age Music World

Posts Tagged ‘Erin Aas’

The Zone Music Reporter Music Award Winners for 2010 were announced on March 13, 2011.  Many of the artists we write album reviews about or interview are category qualifiers, nominees, or chosen award winners in specific ZMR music categories.

In our role as review publicists and interview hosts we often get to know many of the award candidates personally, so it is always good news when we hear exceptional artists get the recognition they deserve.

In fact, many New Age music qualifiers, nominees, and award winning musicians were recognized in our own NewAgeMusic.nu Best Album Awards in 2010.  We take pride ourselves when writing about these commendable individuals, and we look forward to writing about many more top New Age music artists by a review or interview in the days ahead.

The ZMR Award Winning Musicians we feature are shown in the cover art shown below.  You can click on the cover arts to visit the dedicated page for each artist featured on our pages.  The award finalists we didn’t have a chance to write about this year are also included below.  B.T. Fasmer and I would like to congratulate everyone!  Place cursor over album cover art for award status.

Best New Artist – Another Place and Time by Heidi Anne Breyer. 

Best Instrumental Album – Piano – Another Place and Time by Heidi Anne Breyer.

Best Vocal Album – The Grace of the Green Leaf by Lis Addison.

Best Neo – Classical Album – NightBook by Ludovico Einaudi

Best Electronic Album – The Crossing by David Helpling & Jon Jenkins.

Best Ambient Album – The Crossing by David Helpling & Jon Jenkins.

Best Cover Art – The Crossing by David Helpling & Jon Jenkins.

Visit zonemusicreporter.com to see the ZMR Music Award Winners for 2010.

Read B.T. Fasmer’s article; NewAgeMusic.nu Best Album Award Winners in 2010.

Big Stock Photo – Stuarthe.

Solo instrumental albums are a natural source of personalized music, so when two reputable soloists merge their singular talents, an alliance from soloists to duettists is an even more valuable source of personified music for everyone.

Devin Rice & Erin Aas are seasoned musicians already recognized by their proficient styles as individual artists now emerging as a team that writes and performs original piano / guitar and finger styled guitar duet compositions with hand selected musicians adding polished accompaniments on their new release titled Arrival.

Residing in the state of Washington, Devin & Erin had also traveled to Imaginary Road Studios in rural Vermont to enlist the expertise of Grammy Award winning Will Ackerman, so the level of quality on the album’s production retraces their visit to a highly specialized destination.

Arrival is an album where Devin plays piano in addition to guitar along with Erin, showcasing their 15 song compilation that is adventuresome and symmetrical from the first song to the last. After meeting for the first time several years ago, I felt their earlier mainstay as professional soloists has been doubled and enhanced using simple math, along with their broad variance in individual styles.

Devin Rice & Erin Aas, have selected skilled artists along with Grammy Award winning producer Will Ackerman, to emerge as a fortified musical team, and by virtue of each artist’s specialized skills, has attained a winning strategy with Arrivial.

Thyn Ayre is the crisp beginning song that sounds like a down to earth journey put to sheet music, like Procession, where a wonderful just right feel becomes the standard atmosphere. These folk styled narratives flourish during the piano and guitar duets set in a moderate tempo like most of the 15 songs.

Borderline is a breezy guitar duet by Erin and Devin, while their Tribute to Robert Frost expresses a more stately approach that includes percussion rhythms backing majestic piano melodies with subtler acoustic guitar highlights.

Lively acoustic guitar and percussion rhythms are heard on the memorable song Nevada, while Something About A Harbor has piano lead in for guitar, with rich melodic tones showing depth in a natural way.  Perdido En Granada, Lullaby For Now & For JB are gentle and more introspective songs with English horn and cello support that compliment the pleasing atmosphere.

Whiskey In The Watertower is truly spirited and a nicely coordinated guitar duet, featuring Will Ackerman on the final guitar solo that resembles Pulborough Spring by taking an up-tempo direction from the primarily moderate paced piano and guitar duets with instrumentals.

Rich cello harmonics are the scenic backdrop in songs, Morning With Annie, Southern Breeze, & Stars of Winter, with the latter song taking an adventurous free flight expression during the melody and refrains that gently lands with guitar, cello, and piano uniting in an ensemble.

Although solo albums are a mainstay and pleasing source of enjoyment, Arrival is a nice departure from singular solo albums given the enriching instrumentals and contrasting styles of the two principal soloists.  This departure notably doubles the fine harmonic value for the listener, along with Devin & Erin who have likewise doubled their musical achievements together as a team, and as individuals.

Additional musicians include Derrick Jordan on djembe with Eugene Friesen & Traci Hoveskeland giving cello performances on several tracks. Jill Haley lends her talents on English horn and Will Ackerman is featured in the final guitar performance.

Visit devinriceanderinaas.com to sample / purchase or at their CDBaby.com page. Click on their biographies page to read about their backgrounds and how it all began. Visit the Imaginary Road Studios of williamackerman.com right here.

Picture copyright Big Stock Photo – MelMcNaughton.