Chris Bates reaches new heights on the soundscape of "Past The Clouds”

 With “Past The Clouds”, his latest release, Chris Bates is clearly guiding listeners on a journey, at once up close and personal but also seemingly boundless, an escape from the world’s gravity. With a cinematic flair, Bates creates an ambient space that shines with light and lulls the listener to transcend above noise and descend into beauty.

“Past the Clouds” embodies a feeling of space, vast, alive, and open. The instrumental layers give way, shapes form, and imagery of light slicing through grey storm clouds emerges. Bates has a dynamic range, once limited to filmmakers who worked with light and shadow, in a mood equally reflective and transcendental. The pace is leisurely given time to play out here, each sound takes a breath, and every moment stretches and allows the listener to be within the music.

“Past The Clouds” is a reminder that peace isn’t somewhere off in the distance but rather just on the other side of ordinary anxiety. The way Bates structures it, it flows gracefully, unveiling itself in light crescendos matched with sweet releases of tension, capturing deftly that interstice where something hovers and movement stalls. “Past The Clouds” is a piece of music that’s really about hope. In doing so, Chris Bates has successfully captured freedom itself in a bottle, and with it, perhaps a gentle reminder that no matter how heavy life seems at times, there’s always some light waiting somewhere on the other side.

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