Album Review: Eleven After Midnight by Holland Phillips

Review by Lissette Cascante

They say the best writing happens in the nighttime hours and I heartily concur. The quiet respite from the bustle and distractions of the day which the night offers allows for inspiration and creativity to flow more freely. Perhaps that is why every song on musician Holland Phillips’ latest album Eleven After Midnight, to quote the artist, “was created in the hours between midnight and dawn’s light”.

Holland Phillips is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist who has been recording and producing electronic and contemporary instrumental music since the mid-nineties. Holland uses keyboards, flutes, electric and acoustic guitars to weave tapestries of beautiful melodies, and meaningful, heartwarming songs. Eleven After Midnight is Holland’s tenth album released in 128 countries in September 2021 and can best be described as a journey through the darkness into the light.

“Lights Off”, the first track on the album, with its crystalline melody seems to tuck us gently into our own safe space as the soothing piano and synthesizer arrangements in “All That We Are” and “That Distant Horizon” emanate security and comfort as we begin our conscious dream experience.

The pace picks up a bit in “Stranger Dreams” with its haunting melody fit for its title and the elucidation is left to the listener. “Wolf Moon Rising” seems to evoke the mystery and magic contained in the first full moon of the year, named after howling wolves, as it rises in the cold January night sky.

“Landing On Mars” with its easy rhythm, synthesizer strings and keyboard arrangement creates for me the feeling of travel and reminds how our dreams can take us anywhere we want to go. Pretty and reflective summarizes the piano and synth melody in “From The Music Fields”.

The title track, “Eleven After Midnight” is a more dramatic piece, with an almost cinematic feel. Deep emotions stirred up in the middle of the night recalling past events, perhaps. The song speaks to me of the need to redeem the time while the clock is still ticking, maybe why the next track that follows “Calling Us Home” featuring very nice piano work and flute accompaniment also has intense rhythm and determined pace.

The album concludes with two more beautiful piano compositions, “Pieces of You” and “At Night’s End” exuding a melancholia of dreams and memories which often visit us in the wee hours of the morning.

I really enjoyed relaxing and ruminating to the lovely tunes in this album. I felt the song titles, arrangements and melodies allowed me to form my own dreamy illustrations.

~Lissette Cascante for Aural Awakenings

For more information please visit Holland Phillips' website. Eleven After Midnight is also available at Amazon, Apple Music and more.

Album Review: A Presence of Three Minds by Holland Phillips

Holland Phillips is a seasoned composer and keyboardist who’s released a successive string of albums over the past several years. Comprised of 11 compositions spanning approximately 45 minutes total, his latest full-length recording, A Presence of Three Minds, delivers more of the enjoyably familiar style that has come to characterize Phillips’ congenial sound, with its innocuous melodies comprised of notably vintage-sounding keyboards arrangements.

Seemingly infused with some of the stylistic underpinnings of Yanni’s and David Arkenstone’s earliest works, as well as taking a few cues from Tangerine Dream’s late 80s to mid-90s sound, A Presence of Three Minds could easily be mistaken for an album recorded three decades prior at the height of new age music’s popularity. Whether the distinctive vintage element that largely defines Phillips' music is produced by a conscious effort on the part of the artist or not, it has certainly been a key component to his sound with every album by him I've listened to thus far.

Likewise, synthesized string arrangements and gossamer vocal textures lend a whimsical 1980s fantasy film-era touch to many of these pieces, which simultaneously veer into neoclassical easy listening territory along the way. Ultimately however, A Presence of Three Minds is bona fide contemporary instrumental music with fanciful new age overtones that I warmly recommend to fans of retro-style recordings within this genre! ~Candice Michelle



For more information please visit the artist's website. This album is also available at Amazon, iTunes and other retail & streaming platforms.

Album Review: Leaning Toward Home by Holland Phillips

Composer and keyboardist Holland Phillips has released a total of seven albums over the past several years with his latest output, Leaning Toward Home, continuing along the synthesizer-based contemporary instrumental style of his previous releases. Comprised of eleven easy-going and optimistic compositions upon which the sun never sets, the album’s arrangements mostly move along at a mid-tempo pace, as Phillips serves-up convivial keyboard melodies amid gentle programmed beats and quasi-orchestration.

Two of the most enjoyable pieces to my ears are paired together – with “A Sip of Potion” being the first of these at the album’s halfway mark. Accentuating this sunny arrangement with glistening bell-like timbres, Phillips seemingly imbues it with the semblance of a vintage fantasy film. He likewise continues in this mode on my favorite piece, “Moving Forward”, wherein Phillips further delights us with a comparatively more reflective keyboard melody.

Perhaps taking a few queues from the successful works of Mannheim Steamroller, Phillips’s music is overall characterized by a distinctly 80s-era vibe that hasn’t changed much since he debuted on the music scene with his first album. Lightly treading along a comfortable course, Phillips may not be breaking new ground as a composer, but he does create harmoniously sentimental music intended to lift the spirits – and that, he certainly succeeds at! ~Candice Michelle

For more information please visit the artist's website. This album is also available at Amazon, Google Play, CD Baby and iTunes.

Album Review: Under A Second Moon By Holland Phillips

Under A Second Moon is the sixth album by multi-instrumentalist Holland Phillips and follow-up to his 2016 album, Circles of Eight. Comprised of eleven compositions spanning forty-six minutes, Holland’s latest album follows the new age / contemporary musical style of his previous releases, drawing heavily upon a distinguishable and well-worn 1980’s synthesized sound. In fact, notable comparisons could be drawn to some of the earliest works by both Yanni and David Arkenstone, as well as to a lesser degree that of Bill Douglas and Richard Souther. Throughout the album Holland plays piano, synthesizer and guitar while Paul Christensen lends saxophone to a couple of pieces. Additionally, subtle programmed beats underscore many of the arrangements.

The opening piece, “Out of the Frying Pan”, is enjoyably fey-like with its sampled wind instrument and metallic keyboard notes, as it moves at a rhythmic pace sans a definable drumbeat. Ostensibly retrospective in its essence, this piece along with others on the album seemingly convey a notion of viewing framed photos or snapshots of different scenes in time, as opposed to that of being present in the captured moments to experience them in real-time. One such example is the aptly named, “A Moment in Time”, a slightly jazz-infused number that perfectly illustrates the album’s cover painting of moonlight and landscape. Many of the compositions skew heavily sentimental, such as noted on the title piece, “Under a Second Moon”, an instrumental ballad that's accompanied by saxophone and a tender keyboard arrangement. Comparatively, I found myself most appreciating the more whimsical and fantasy-like moments on the album, such as that exemplified on “Long Way Home”, a dynamic electronic piece with a cinematic flair and easily my favorite of the lot. In my view, the 80’s-era musical influences works best on pieces such as this, with its retro guitar riffs and vintage drum programming that are further complimented by some Pat Metheny-esque vocal lines.

Rather than simply being modern music with a vintage edge, everything about these compositions – from the production, melodies, arrangements and sound quality– seemingly hails straight from the 1980’s, thereby recalling the reigning era of cassette tapes with some sense of nostalgia. An enjoyably positive listening experience overall, Under A Second Moon will likely most appeal to those who appreciate classic new age synthesizer music of the melodic and rhythmic variety! ~ Candice Michelle

For more information please visit the artist's website. This album is also available on Amazon, iTunes, CD Baby and Google Play.

Review originally posted on Journeyscapes Radio on 10/04/17

Album Review: Circles of 8 by Holland Phillips

Holland Phillips is a keyboardist and composer whose fifth album, Circles of 8 is inspired by the resonances from the circles of life and vibrational building blocks of creation. Comprised of eleven compositions spanning fifty-one minutes, Holland demonstrates mostly dynamic and melodically straightforward motifs on this recording, which have been rendered on both new and vintage keyboards and synthesizers. He likewise plays acoustic and electric guitar on a couple of tracks while incorporating additional sounds of strings, woodwinds, harpsichord, percussion and bass, which are provided on various compositions throughout.

“Starting Over” is a spirited composition that opens with melodic piano and keyboards. Characteristic of both new age synthesizer and contemporary instrumental music, it sets the mood for the rest of the album, which mostly exudes a dynamic serenity. “Night Tracks” follows next and is easily my favorite piece on the album. Beginning with tapping percussion, it soon leads into a fantasy-like arrangement of synthesized chords, strings and reed instruments that underscore a lead piano melody. A subtle drumbeat guides “The Journey”, a similarly whimsical piece that is likewise accompanied by a melodic arrangement of sparkling synthetic textures. “Marking Time” is another engaging example that follows in a similar vein, where a synthetic fog permeates a repeating harpsichord melody along with dynamic vintage keyboard motifs. Additionally, Holland’s longtime friend Paul Christensen lends saxophone on two of the album’s jazzier numbers, including “Stephanie’s Song” and “Classic by Design”, both of which are sentimentally buoyant and bright.

Notably characteristic of both new age synthesizer and electronic-based contemporary instrumental music, the album’s specific kinds of melodic arrangements, as well as its utilization of both older and vintage-style electronic instruments, imbue the music with a distinctive 80’s-era panache. The compositions are in constant motion with hardly a moment free of overt melodic movement, while additionally touching upon elements of neoclassical and symphonic-style orchestration in a decidedly simplistic and uncomplicated fashion. Those who are particularly fond of such motifs will likely find Circles of 8 to be an overall gently uplifting and peacefully pleasant listening experience. ~Candice Michelle

For more information please visit the artist's website. This album is also available at Amazon, iTunes and CD Baby.

Review originally published on Journeyscapes Radio on 09/08/16.