'Lingering Day: Anatomy of a Daydream' is the tenth album on the Spotted Peccary label by Darshan Ambient (with over a dozen additional releases elswhere), the project name of California musician/composer Michael Allison. Of course, this is the first Darshan Ambient release I've experienced. Allison's background includes stints back in the '80s with Nona Hendryx's Zero Cool band, China Shop, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, and his own band, Empty House. (Kind of sounded like a prog-rock version of the Police mixed with Thomas Dolby.) Funny how such fiery beginnings mellows into chillout ambient as the years go by. To be perfectly honest, I really didn't care too much for 'Lingering Day' the first couple of times I heard it. It came across as New Agey, pretty but lacking substance. There is one track ("Silver") that conjured images of cartoon lambs frolicking in cartoon fields perhaps as a commercial for fabric softener. On the other hand the album is extremely well-played, orchestrated, recorded and produced, all by Allison himself. With further listening I find that only the first couple of numbers fit in that typical New Age mold. That's mainly due to the simple piano-based meodies and themes. Third track, "Arc of Angels" sounds like something from an Anthony Phillips (first guitarist of progressive rock band Genesis), the only track on the album with vocals. It's a bit like a prog-rocker turning pastoral. And yes, there drums on it. Once beyond these early tracks things do get better though, albeit slowly. There is still (highly stylized) simplistic melodic content, but it gives way to a more ambient feel. The rhythm track on "Mover" (as repetitious as it is) supports rather than detracts from this bouncy, shifting melambient piece. Further along there are more sustained ambiences, some with melodies and others not so much. One of my favorites was "The Lost Hunter," is a piece with just the right amounts of melody, rhythm and proggy but languid guitar. What is remarkable about the album is its variety, in which numerous moods, motifs, and settings are explored. One minute you're floating in airy cumulus space with "Hand in the Clouds," the next you're earthbound, bopping along in some foreign market "Kissing Crust". So there is ambient, and melambient here, like the softer side of prog-rock which for many, might not be a bad thing at all. The final track, and title track "Lingering Day" is completely ambient in its deliciously droney soundscape. Good way to end it. 'Lingering Day' has a lot to offer once you get past the first couple of stereotypical New Age tracks as it unfolds into something quite marvelous.