On his second album for Spotted Peccary, synthesist/soundscape composer Hollan Holmes bases his concept album around aqua, in the form of 'Emerald Waters.' If you have any familiarity with Holmes' music then you know he is a synthesist of the Berlin School, a sub-genre of electronic music that is highly invested in the sequencer, that electronic device that programs (usually repetitiously) synth notes to play with a speed and accuracy that would be next to impossible for even the most accomplished keyboardist to sustain over time. Think mid-period Tangerine Dream and already you're familiar.

One of the problems with the sequencer in strict Berlin School mode is that it tends to sound sterile and robotic. Holmes easily overcomes this hurdle by incorporating a superbly melodic musical palette where the pieces take on an almost song-like quality, lyrical without lyrics, abstract enough to be ambient, yet with enough substantial definition to be memorable. This is a very potent combination. One example of Hollan's versatile musicality comes mid-album in "Taken by the Current" where he riffs on the piano, but it doesn't come off as a solo, just an integral part of the music. It's little touches like this, and some of the "ear candy" synth techniques that really makes this album sparkle.

One thing Holmes uses to give this album a sense of majesty is a vocal chorale (synthetic, I think, but I'm not sure...) as in "The Sublime Shimmer" which may be as close as Holmes gets to the divine on this album. Direction changes rapidly but smoothly on this album, and when it seemed like a few minutes ago you were just floating, now you're flying...or swimming. The sense of motion is undeniable and perhaps nowhere on the album is that more apparent than on "Leviathan," where pulsating sequencers propel the listener upward on a journey to the surface. Although 'Emerald Waters' is somewhat of a mellow album, it doesn't sound New Agey, but rather full of richly realized themes. I think Mr. Holmes has upped his game with this sophisticated liquidy tribute.