Beyond City Light
When infinity is the core of your creative palette, some things just take time.Beyond City Lightarrives seven years after keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Jon Jenkins releasedFlow, his first solo recording and a sterling piece of mind-stretching, deep-space sound design.Beyond City Lighttravels a similar path, with some variation, as it gradually transports listeners deep into the sonic ether. Jenkins in places supplements his spacious, resonant, slowly unfurling soundscapes with textures from flutes, wordless female vocals, and more emphatic percussion. While generally a good move, it tends to make a few selections, notably theTangerine Dream-inspired "Through City Light," a little busy. Beyond that quibble, Jenkins--an admirer ofPink Floyd, Peter Gabriel-eraGenesis, and other progressive-leaning acts--crafts some splendid mental theater here, particularly the opening track and the concluding five selections, highlighted by the benevolent celestial sheen captured in "Sky of Surrender." For fans of electronic/ambient recordings who prefer the mostly atmospheric, occasionally rhythmic region of the progressive-music continuum, Jenkins is a composer worth noting.--Terry Wood