This is an excellent LP of electronic music from local synth-builder T.J. Lawrence. Sure, it's maybe a bit derivative with echoes throughout of Vangelis, Tangerine Dream and other synth gurus of the early 80's... but it's highly listenable [i]and[/i] has the added bonus of being recorded using synths built right here in Calgary. [center][img width=313]//7ca49eb9f67ba1319ef136f9d52cd8b8.cdn.bubble.io/f1759251122089x839273287997701600/richtext_content.jpeg[/img][/center] [h2]City 'wizard' draws praise[/h2] By James Muretich (Herald staff writer) "It goes without saying that the material contained herein is as haunting...as I've ever heard come from an electronic wizard." So says Guthrie Thomas, president of the California-based Eagle Records in the liner notes to a new release by T.J. Lawrence entitled Illuminations. And the album is indeed one of the year's best in the field of electronic music. However, the surprising thing is that this "electronic wizard" lives and works in Calgary. The just-released debut disc by Lawrence is similar in spirit to the work of West Germany's Tangerine Dream in its ethereal nature and classical approach to electronic rock. "A lot of people have commented that it reminds them of Tangerine Dream," says Lawrence, who not only performs and com- poses his own music but also built his various synthesizers. "As far as I'm concerned, I've had quite a few influences, from Tangerine Dream to people like Mike Oldfield, Larry Fast and Jean Michel Jarre. In the creative process you incorporate a lot of various styles and things you've picked up from people you've studied. It's not as if it comes out of nowhere, like across space from a more advanced civilization. "As they say, there's nothing new under the sun and the album does incorporate the moods of these artists. Yet there's still something which is mysterious about it and makes it stand up on its own." The album is available for $9.95 at Fidelio Records and through the planetarium. As well, one can write Eagle Records, P.O. Box 1027, Hermosa Beach, California, U.S.A., 90254.
