FLAMING STAR

What an unnoticed artist she is! Totally in the shadow of his brother Mike, as is their brother Terry too (the most New Age artist of them). To many of us Sally's angelic voice is heard on Steve Hackett's debut album, in the song 'Shadow Of Hierophant'. I had actually heard only one song ('Mirrors') from her solo output before this album. So I can't evaluate it against other albums, but its goodness made me think that she'd deserve much wider recognition (at least here in Finland her albums are hard to find).

This music is dream pop, electronica, Chill Out, trance, and of course some New Age with Celtic flavour too. It is programmed but the music doesn't become too sterile or mechanic at all. The production is nearly excellent. On many songs Sally weaves a shamanistic atmosphere; some sort of cosmic incantations indeed. All tracks work pretty well, but especially 'Samurai Of The Sun' is hypnotic. Sally's singing is used more like an instrument than as a vehicle for lyrics which are sparse.

13-minute version of 'Mirrors' is a bit too jamming and repetitive for my taste. It makes me think of the foolish 12" maxi-single extended versions (do such still exist?). But the album is very enjoyable if the mentioned styles interest you.