Instrumental New Age Review: Robert Linton-Beyond The Clearing

Release Date: January 5, 2016

Label: October Moon Records

Website

Beyond The Clearing is Robert Linton’s third studio release. My introduction to Robert was the track “Aside the River Bed.” It was featured on our Rate The Tracks site. His delicate guitar playing led me along the river and I felt like I was there, one with nature.

If music moves you enough to be picturesque then it is doing what intends to. Instrumental tracks must create something other than an auditory experience for the listener. Without words there is no story right? This is not always the case when someone knows how to deliver a message with music alone. Mr. Linton accomplishes this with a flair and excellence on Beyond The Clearing.

“Lingering Rustle” certainly holds a meaning. It is a sound, perhaps a feeling one has, something is moving and trying to tell you something. That lingering could be a feeling you have internally, whether it’s an urging, a rumbling in the stomach or just a voice within giving you direction. That fact that it is lingering indicates that it will not go away unless addressed. This song is very gentle in its approach and Robert

paints the sky with the gentle pastels of his decisive guitar lines. Other instruments come into the picture and are then sprinkled in ever so slightly to accentuate the atmosphere and sincere feeling of the track.

As always I leave the interpretation of each song to each individuals own perception. I look at the CD cover, the title of the track and listen intently then put all of that together as each track develops and then I start feeling certain things and begin seeing a movie unfold in my mind’s eye. This can only happen with exceptional music and this album passed the test.

The title track is always significant and the artist holds up his end of that expectation with “Beyond The Clearing.” Once again gentle acoustic and melodic guitar lines whisper on the wind as it swirls around your being you begin to feel like you are melting into the scenery unfolding in your mind. It is the very essence of beauty and perfection much like the natural surroundings that Robert is standing in the middle of on the cover of this album. A man, his thoughts and his guitar take the barren hot desert and turn it into his own personal heaven. What was once looked at as a desolate and lonely place blooms into a haven of peace and solitude that a spiritual individual can appreciate and want to return to.

Beyond The Clearing is a work of art that an artist with a clear vision of what he wanted to present to a listening audience. The sheer beauty of one instrument leading you down the path of completion and satisfaction is what awaits you inside this music. The sounds and colors that paint this musical canvas are bright with life and the promise of a new day. What more could one ask from a recording?

4/5 Stars

Key Tracks: Aside the River Bed, Lingering Rustle, Beyond The Clearing

Tracks:
01. Aside the River Bend
02. Gathering over the Surface
03. Lingering Rustle
04. Shadowing the Hillside
05. A Distant Storm
06. Beyond the Clearing
07. Stretching Across the Horizon
08. Amid the Stillness
09. Beneath the Cloudless Sky

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck- New Age Music Reviews Founder

January 20, 2016

Review Provided By New Age Music Reviews

Featured Stream: Robert Linton-Aside The River Bend

Robert Linton has a new album coming out titled Beyond The Clearing. The focus track is "Aside The River Bend."

The track is much like walking alongside a long and winding river observing the fluctuation of the flow and all the activities one may witness during that stroll.

Robert's guitar is poignant, expressive and beautiful as the nature it emulates. The track is soft yet it makes a strong point as it makes its way into your soul. It touches your senses and you really can relate to the title so much once you listen.

I look forward to hearing the rest of this album as it sounds like it will be a wonderful experience.

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck


More About Robert Linton:

http://www.robertlinton.com

Robert Linton is a musician of deep thoughtfulness, this sensitivity is evident on his recordings of lyrical guitar instrumentals. Linton plays finger-style nylon-string guitar, his songs exude such tranquil beauty and peaceful solace that they work their way into your soul without you even realizing it. They become part of your being without any conscious effort or mood-setting required, which is the essence of true musical artistry.

Robert's first recordings can be found on his 2001 demo, which featured (among others) the songs "Scent of Rain," "Mountain Mist," and "Autumn Moon." These tracks would later be re-recorded and released on his CD Pale Shades. By 2005, Robert had released his second CD Within the Outline. It was while promoting Within the Outline that Robert first connected with noted guitarist and founder of the ground-breaking label Windham Hill, Will Ackerman, (currently the hottest producer in contemporary instrumental music via his Imaginary Road Studios). Agreeing to produce Robert's next CD, Whisperings at Nightfall, Ackerman added other instruments to Robert's sublime guitar compositions, calling on the members of a crew of accompanists who have since been featured on many excellent recordings from Imaginary Road. After the release of Whisperings at Nightfall, Robert took time away from recording his music to write music for the library of Harpo Productions.

In February of 2011, Robert released Throughout the Autumn Light. Mixed, mastered and co-produced (with the artist) by the highly regarded studio engineer and overall sonic wizard Corin Nelsen, the album features a stellar cast of guest artists: Stephen Katz on cello, Jeff Oster on flugelhorn, Tracy Silverman on violin, Jill Haley on English Horn and Jeff Pearce on EBow guitar. In March and April of 2011, Throughout the Autumn Light reached number two on the Zone Music Reporter Top 100 Radio Airply charts. By the beginning of 2012, the CD had been nominated for Best Instrumental Acoustic Album by radio broadcasters reporting to Zone Music Reporter. Also during this time, Throughout the Autumn Light and Whisperings at Nightfall were added to the music library of The C.A.R.E. Channel, a program of Healing Healthcare Systems, which is played in more than 700 leading hospitals around the country.