Bella Sonus
Enamoured
Neurodisc
If you’re a fan of “Musical Starstreams”-style ambient, then you should enjoy Bella Sonus. Nicely balanced between synths and percussion (both acoustic and electronic), and with some really nice bass and Spanish flamenco guitar work, Enamoured is about equal parts music to relax and dance to – often both in the same track. None of the pieces stay in the same place long enough to wear a rut, but they also do a nice job of circling round to some of the same sounds they started with, giving a good sense of closure by the end of each track.
Several tracks feature beautiful female vocals, such as the opening “From a Standstill,” with its romantic-sounding French lyrics, which combined with the music and the sound of waves at the end make me think of a sweet summer evening stroll along the beach with your lover. For pure cool funkiness, though, you can’t beat “Breaking Through” parts one and two, both of which have some really cool hand drums rhythms, the first part with flute too, with some seriously grooving techno beats and synth lines that make you feel like you’re finally cutting loose after a long spell of being cocooned inside yourself. And the closing “Warm Embrace,” with its lovely, delicate keyboard melody, insect sounds, and warm, dark synth backdrop reminds me of a night spent sharing a sleeping bag under the stars with your love, safe in each other’s arms.
Neurodisc Records, P.O. Box 7468, Hollywood, FL 33081; http://www.neurodisc.com
