Search - Ray Lynch :: Deep Breakfast

Caught my attention

tapping junkie | Minnisoota | 05/30/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It was when this first came out that I was at an art fair in South Minneapolis and this was playing at someone's booth. I asked who it was and what the title was. I promptly forgot. Not long after I heard it again, this time in a bookstore. I went to the counter to ask who it was and bought the Cassette. I am here to buy the CD so I can continue playing it. It is unique and beautiful, soothing and satisfying. I had never before and have never since sought out music like this, tracking down an artist because I was so caught by it. This will go in my collection with Andreas Vollenweider."

A Garden of Delight in Music Form

Deborah F. Booth | The East Coast of the USA | 10/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Deep Breakfast" was my first exposure to Ray Lynch's music. It had to have been 15 years ago or more, now, when my uncle first said to me, "Deb, you need to listen to this." Listen I did... and my life was enriched. This has remained my favorite Lynch album, though my all-time fave Lynch composition appears on his album, "Nothing Above My Shoulders But the Evening", and is called "The Vanished Gardens of Cordoba".



Ray Lynch's compositions are otherworldly to me - yet filled with the most human of qualities: hope. It's as if we can transcend our day-to-day lives, and be a part of the celestial world for a bit, as we listen. He'll use interesting orchestrations - synthesizers, strings, trumpets, oboes - whatever can best create the mood he seeks to evoke.



The first cut on this album, "Celestial Soda Pop" is aptly named, and filled with the humor suggested by the title. Bubbling and fizzing with life and joy and humor, it's a piece to quench your thirst for something fun and different.



"The Oh of Pleasure" is pure "space" music for me - you can just envision small space ships zipping about the skies, a la Star Wars. The future, in music form.



"Falling in the Garden" has a lovely, haunting melody with shimmering underscoring that adds a layer of warmth and depth.



"Kathleen's Song" sings a subtle hymn to beauty, with a lilt to the phrasing that brings pure pleasure, even after you've heard the song a hundred times.



I think that actually sums up my feelings about Lynch's work. You delight in what you hear the first time... but because of the subtleties, and layering in his compositions, you will always hear something new, each time you listen. It's the best of both worlds - you have the 'comfort zone' of music you feel you know... and yet it presents uncharted territories to explore each time you hear it anew. There aren't that many composers out there who capture my imagination as Lynch does. Perhaps that's why he's one of my favorite musicians to have on in the background as I work on my own otherworldly compositions in digital art form. He contributes to my own creative joy, like a good friend, or a warm wrap on a cold night... you can slip into his music, and into another dimension."