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"Time and a Word", Winter 1995/96
With Twilight Dreams, Jim Pietkivitch solidly establishes himself as a new and innovative
artist in the world of New Age electronic music. Expertly conjured, composed, and
performed by Pietkivitch, these six synthesized instrumentals combine progressive rock
rhythms and ambient soundscapes connecting for a stimulating spectrum of musical
moods. A good first effort from the artist, fans of synth masters like Jarre, Kit Watkins,
or early prog icons like Camel or Genesis will find this a splendid listen.
"New Age Voice", December 1995, by Dan Liss
Twilight Dreams invites the listener to embark on an inner journey. While "Underground
Passage" taps a tranquil undercurrent with multilayered sounds of voices, flutes and
strings, "Transformation" employs a hotter electronic edge to increase the energy level.
"Luna Lake" uses natural and electronic sounds to create a tableau of stark beauty that
evokes an eerie chill before resolving in a peaceful, mezmerizing fade-out. In this
composition, he reflects our primal relationship with night and dreams; we both cherish
and fear them. For these are the places we go every night when we surrender ourselves
to rest and altered states of consciousness.
"Rhythm & Jazz", Nov/Dec 1995, Vol. 2, No 9 by Dan Margules
Sampling of some of the many different faces electronic New Age has to
offer. Each of the six extended tracks on TWILIGHT DREAMS explores a
different style in the genre, opening with spacey ambient, progressing
to lively and rhythmic, throwing in Native American elements on
"Earthdance", getting industrial on "Modern Times", featuring electric
lead guitar on the melodic "Cyber-Dream" and closing with a three-part
suite that explores electronic simulations of nature sounds in rivers
and forests. Hypnotic.
Copyright (c) 1995 Dan Margules. All rights reserved.
"Heartsong Review", Spring/Summer 1995, by Don St Clair
This is mostly progressive space music with a beat; likeable straightforward electronic
music. "Earth Dance", is dramaticily underpinned with a hard driving 4/4 drum beat, with
oversweeping heroic and dark horn section synthesizer melodies and washes. It has a
purposeful feel, evocative of a more dreamy and deep Chariots of Fire type sound, recent
Kitaro, or maybe some Windham Hill artist Mark Ishham's soundtrack themes.
"Underground Passage" by contrast, is slow yet steady, more like breathing long and
slow in and out. His use of sounds is rather true to the genre, swelling horn-like lead lines
with string section echoes following along. Tranquil with bright edges to the darkness of
the tone and feel, it does feel like a long journey underground to another realm. Luna Lake
starts out gorgeously dark and mysterious. This 14 minute piece comes in three sections:
Nightfall, North Woods, and White Deer. The darkness of the night enters into a more deep
and spacious resevoir of quiet feeling. This is the dreamiest part of the album, absolutely
gentle and light-filled. All in all, this album is a good meditation on the genre and very
listenable and moves along rhythmicly in the classic form of space-rock music as listeners
of Hearts of Space syndicated radio show may know it.
Heartsong Review is a consumer guide for people who are looking for uplifting music and want to get
a reasonable idea of what is available and what each recording is like before they buy. Reviews are
done by unbiased, independent volunteers, and are designed to be friendly, descriptive and informative.
Our central purpose is to aid personal and global consciousness expansion through music. We promote
spiritually oriented music by reviewing well-done recordings of this type, and making that information
widely available.
"IE Magazine", Issue #8 1995, by Darren Bergstein
New American synthesist Pietkivitch travels the length of the electronic music gamut on
his agreeable debut. Moving capably between melodic environmental music ("Luna Lake"),
surging techno-rock ("Cyber-Dream") and serene, plaintive soundscapes protecting
themselves from new age chill ("Transformation," "Underground Passage"). Twilight
Dreams can rightfully align itself next to the works of Mark Isham or Tim Story, as all
three musicians favor simple but lushly phrased and expansive chords that wish to depict
vast distances and miles yet to be journeyed. Pietkivitch proves the adage that it isn't the
equipment that empowers the mind, but the ability and imagination.
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