This was my first solo project.  The songs are more in an ambient vein than most of my other work. This CD has sold out and I have no plans to re-release it.  An online review follows the track list.

1. The Seed of Five Seas

2. Ma's Front Porch

3. Bandits

4. Turning My Head

5. A Dream of Amsterdam

6. Seventh Jungle

7. Loss (Farewell)

8. Loss (Purgatory)

9. Loss (Spring)

10. A Certain Whisper

________________________________

Bill Binkelman
WIND and WIRE
http://www.windandwire.com

**************

FRANK WYATT
A Certain Whisper
an mp3.com recording (2001)

Having little or no knowledge of his previous group, Happy the Man (other than the fact that they were considered a prog band by most of their fans), I was surprised at the music on A Certain Whisper, the debut of former H.T.M. member, Frank Wyatt. The music on this CD is, at times, startlingly original, and so "un-proggish" that I was literally stunned when I first heard it. Either Happy the Man played some cool quasi-ambient music or this recording came from a very different place in Frank Wyatt's musical soul.

The album opens with "The Seed of Five Seas" which uses piano, keyboards, and some subdued field recordings to create a wistful soundscape of
remembered yesterdays. Romantic without being schmaltzy, the song reminded me at times of William Watson (if he used synthesizers for undercurrents, that is). It's a fine first cut! "Ma's Front Porch" continues with piano in the lead, but on this piece the keyboards make their presence felt to a somewhat greater degree. The song is also highly evocative (as is almost the entire CD). Frank uses his various keyboards in creative ways, sometimes as lush strings, sometimes as mere textures or coloring. The engineering on the CD is faultless. This album sounds superb! Also, don't be misled by how I describe these first two songs. This is not mere adult contemporary music (which, in and of itself, is fine anyway). There is complexity here, but it's underneath the surface (although readily apparent to a keen ear, so to speak).

The album really hits its stride, though, starting with the fifth song, "A Dream of Amsterdam." Those field recordings (crickets and night noises) open the piece along with minor-key piano and soaring, yet subtle, synth lines. When the sax (and muted trumpet) kick in, we're into deliciously bluesy/melancholic soundscape territory. A hint of jazz flirts with the piano, but the song itself is so drenched in regret and a fog-shrouded sense of sadness that the "jazz" elements are more akin to the blues I mentioned earlier. The mood of the album abruptly shifts gears with the short (two-minute long) "Seventh Jungle" with its Miles Davis-like trumpet, shuffling beats, twinkling cyber-synths, and exotic percussive polyrhythmic elements. This song cooks and I just wish it was a lot longer!

A Certain Whisper's centerpoint is the three-part "Loss" suite, which is comprised of "Farewell," "Purgatory," and "Spring". This is a profoundly mature piece of work, featuring highly different motifs throughout the three selections. It evolves from the beautiful yet tragic sadness of the opening movement (featuring lush keyboards giving way to a staccato-effect violin patch) to the sad horn-led second movement (which has a beautiful yet sorrowful dirge-like quality to it) and ending with the somewhat hopeful and dramatic (yet restrained) final movement (featuring piano and bell-like tones and featuring some rather dramatic but muted timpani).

The album concludes with the spoken-word-and-music title song. Frank has a great speaking voice (the poem's lyrics are his, of course). I think the poem is extremely well-written, although I'm not the expert at poetry I am at music. The musical accompaniment is sparse yet adds just the right touch to the emotionally-laden words. Personally, I think it's a great way to end this evocative and touching album.

The music on A Certain Whisper is filled with humanity and a sense of fragility. It would be wrong for me to presume to know what the recording is about; however, for me, it calls to mind how precious life is and how we must make good of it while we have it. The fact that Frank can communicate this so well with just music, and that the music is so beautiful (accessible yet never overly commercial in any way, shape or form), is a testament to how "plugged in" he must be to his muse. While the songs on A Certain Whisper may not appeal to hard core EM or prog lovers or fans of more minimal ambient music, those who can appreciate a melancholic sense of beauty, a la Tim Story, (but more fleshed out) would be well-served to give this fine album a listen. One word, though. It¹s not a long recording (31:00) but there¹s not a single second of waste or filler, either. Highly recommended.

Cover art by Steve Durham   

            Future Bandits~  Art of Dawid Michalczyk

"Bandits" was recorded as the soundtrack for a media technology project I was doing for school at Northern Virginia Community College. The artwork of Dawid Michalczyk was the inspiration. He had uploaded an essay in which he described (with images and text) the process he used to create "Future Bandits". I animated this process and wrote "Bandits" to support the video.

Turning My Head ~ Listen (2:21 MP3)

The short theme "A Turning of My Head" was later to become the completed piece "Turning My Head". It is recorded on the Pedal Giant Animals cd. This sample has the original from A Certain Whisper followed by a section from the PGA version to show the evolution of the theme.

A Certain Whisper

This morning the sky rushed over me… The clouds were like frightened birds, furiously running into the horizon.

Then, it seemed as if the Earth itself was the object in motion, spinning wildly…Threatening to throw me off into the flurried sky.

  After a moment of close regard, my balance starts to return… And I recognize the heart of that whirling moment as my own true heart.

And the running, frightened, insecurity deep sharing can bring,  When certain whispers are not answered.

Many years and frosts it takes to cube over the true heart…To wall off even the possibility that another might allow you to love them.

And a hard, distant self resides in that frosting…as a sound… Much like a wail heard over the crash of surf into stone cliffs.

  Many joys are lost forever, many secrets never told by such a wintering soul… And so, when awakened, could it be without excitement and energy unshackled?

My spirit is a kite on the rushing sky of hope, my stone heart melted again…

    And that twisting gut pain lives again, in the wait for a certain whisper.

The Loss Suite

This trio of movements was written for my daughter Jessica when her young husband died. The feelings were simply captured as best I could, first saying goodbye in "Farewell", then contemplating the unknown place his passing had left in her life "Purgatory", and emerging into the hopeful "Spring".

The Seed of Five Seas ~ Listen (1:24 MP3)

 This song contains the original motif for the Happy The Man song "Il Quinto Mare" or "The Fifth Sea". This theme, slowed down and used as the ending of the composition, is supposed to represent the solemn retreat of the "Old World" magicians and their companions into the sunset of an ancient ocean, as the modern age replaces the magical middle Earth.