Recently Heard: Pacific Moon

[ellyssian]

Gary Stroutsos - Pacific Moon


This is, for the most part, background music, but I say that in a good way. Relaxing flute music, with percussion, keyboards, koto, and - not as prominent as on some similar recordings - ocean sounds.

I suppose I should be disappointed that the oceanic bits are minimal, as I picked this up as a souvenir of my visit to Mystic Seaport and Mystic Aquarium and the presence of the waves is what coaxed me to even consider this recording. You see, I used to collect forest sound recordings because I lived in the city, near the ocean. Now that I live in the forest, I'm good with those sounds, and I need to supply the oceanic thing.

Unfortunately, I'm simply not disappointed. Gary's a flute player - and a very good one - so that's what you get the most of here. Although the Pacific of the title is further clarified on liner notes as referring to the northwest coast of the United States, much of the soundscape has heritage in the other side of the Pacific rim. A notable exception to this is Nights of Quiet Stars, which has more of a Mediterranean or Middle Eastern influence.