Jordan Rudess
Secrets Of The Muse

A keyboard. And magic was born.

To many, this phrase might seem ridiculous; to others, a poorly executed attempt to evoke poetry. And you're right, because my words cannot express my appreciation in the face of such sublime musical artistry. I haven't included any genre just to leave more to the imagination or to give this magnificent album a dimension that is universal and unlabelled.

Jordan Rudess is the keyboardist for 'Dream Theater'. And please, if you've read this sentence and are about to leave, keep reading because this album will make you completely forget about the keyboard's virtuosity or the cold soloist that churns out note after note. This magnificent album will only make you realize how great music can be, and how this greatness is a result of absolute simplicity.
This is music played only with the mind and a simple keyboard. Nothing more, nothing more. I say with the mind. Because this album seems to have been recorded in an immediate and improvised manner. This testifies to how great Jordan's art is. "Secrets of the Muse". And we wonder which muse could have immediately inspired such beauty.

The atmosphere of the album is not energetic, nor rock, nor prog... it's music almost recited, spoken, dreamlike. It will strike your heart from the initial "Stillness" and the following "Deepest Love". These initial tracks whisper to us, and we understand how each piece is an ode to the music goddess we adore so much. The following atmospheres of "Autumn Fire" or "Gentle Ways" are the sweetest a keyboardist could conceive. The passages may sometimes be predictable, or, blasphemously, we could say expected. But all this apparent simplicity is the result of work that impresses on first listen and captivates on the second. Until you can't do without its melodies.
"Foothpath" breaks the smooth flow and offers new emotional solutions with the addition of drums and bass, but with "Virgin Snow" the peak is reached. Almost tearful, this gem. Just a piano and a massive dose of melody, sentiment. "Darkness" offers us a melancholic image of darkness, while "Drifting East" gives us some smiles. "A Call of Beauty" is pure solitude, "Cradle Song" inspires rebirth, "New Life" is almost a hymn to life. "So It Is" in its simplicity offers vast emotional cues, and "Sunset Swingset" greets us sweetly as if it were a lullaby before falling asleep and re-exploring this pearly album.

What more can be said that the music hasn't already said? I don't feel like recommending this album, because it would be disrespectful to the music it contains. Listening could be mandatory for those who love sweetness and emotion in the purest and sweetest music that I've ever heard in 20 years of life.