NERISSA SCHWARZ

Former Frequency Drift harpist Nerissa Schwarz goes solo on this extremely personal and original debut, "Playgrounds Lost", performing shimmering and atmospheric pieces on electric harp and mellotron. This exceptional talent hails from Bayreuth, Germany , a musical mecca if there ever was one and the album explores 'the beauty, fragility and traumas of childhood', encompassing delicate pastels of bucolic purity, ambient sheets of sound as well as darker, gloomier expanses. Nothing droning endlessly, a feeling of forever evolving and constantly billowing like burning embers in a forested clearing, the expressive harp conjures a sense of delicacy and adventure, much like sonic painting, recalling that famous Sensation's Fix title "Music is Painting in the Air"! 36 minutes of colossal bliss, Filigree moments of sonic lace as the harp twinkles in harmony with the suave mellotron sounds, this is a collection of shivering moods, glimmering sparkles, flickering light and glistening reflections, that noticeably transcends the banal and boring. Certainly not ambient in the dull sense of the term, but rather glimpses of vibrant serenity and perhaps sporadic despondency, certainly Gothic at times, with enough variance and metamorphosis to keep the ear intent and attentive.

Highlights include the magnificent "Fireflying" (I had never seen fireflies until a decade ago on Long Island, it was quite the luminous ballet!), the supernaturally crystalline "Last Spring" and its melancholic cadence, the spooky angst of "Something Behind the Trees" that could be a soundtrack moment for a horror movie and the 'cherry on the sundae' title track that finishes off the aural voyage. Ideally, early morning or very late night music, when the senses are dulled and the defense mechanisms are at bay.

4 Forgotten sandboxes