Everlasting
You might not expect this kind of music from someone who composes soundtracks for the Christian Broadcasting Network, but on his own, Ryan Farish creates a cinematically sweeping, chilled electronica. After drifting toward a saccharine sweetness on his last CD,From the Sky, the multi-instrumentalist has raised the energy level and rhythm intensity onEverlasting, laying down an aggressive bottom with live drums, bass, and even breakbeats that recharge his electronica-based grooves. Songs like "Mercy Follows" are almost danceable. But Farish is a melodicist at heart, and that still dominates his simple but evocative compositions, played mostly on piano and surrounded in a swirled palette of sampled flutes, synthesizer squiggles, and percussive colors. Farish has an over-reliance on samples that can give his music a generic feel, but he also has some distinctive voices, like the cross between a violin and a Chinese sho that blows through "We Are Free" and "Dedicated" like a banshee wind through high mountains. Like labelmate Amethystium, Ryan Farish doesn't take the kind of emotional or musical chances that would make this profound, remaining content to stake out a lighter, more melodically uplifting brand of electronica.--John Diliberto