John Beltran
Amazing Things
Album · Electronic · 2013
Seven years after his last full-length work, Human Engine, John Beltran has returned with an album that spans his 20 years of composition and draws on inspiration from his new life as a father. Overall, Amazing Things is meditative and calm, though we do see hints of his more Latin- and dance-inspired back catalog throughout. "Esperanto" riffs on a syncopated drum loop, at first sounding like the intro to a b-side from 2002's Sun Gypsy. But the song quickly takes a turn for the emotive, with breathy vocals and swelling strings; it ultimately resolves into a cinematic cadence. "For Vangelis" takes an obvious note from the artist of Chariots of Fire fame, detuning a lonely echoing guitar over subtle pads and piano. At a hearty 17 tracks, Amazing Things is, at its core, about Beltran as a composer. He explores the full range of his ability but always returns to the essentials: melody and arrangement.
Amazing Things
John Beltran
Seven years after his last full-length work, Human Engine, John Beltran has returned with an album that spans his 20 years of composition and draws on inspiration from his new life as a father. Overall, Amazing Things is meditative and calm, though we do see hints of his more Latin- and dance-inspired back catalog throughout. "Esperanto" riffs on a syncopated drum loop, at first sounding like the intro to a b-side from 2002's Sun Gypsy. But the song quickly takes a turn for the emotive, with breathy vocals and swelling strings; it ultimately resolves into a cinematic cadence. "For Vangelis" takes an obvious note from the artist of Chariots of Fire fame, detuning a lonely echoing guitar over subtle pads and piano. At a hearty 17 tracks, Amazing Things is, at its core, about Beltran as a composer. He explores the full range of his ability but always returns to the essentials: melody and arrangement.
