Album Review of
The Colors of Life

Written by Robert Silverstein
May 5, 2019 - 2:32pm EDT
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Featuring the music and keyboards of Kenneth Lee Roberts and the music, vocals and lyrics of Megan Buness, the debut CD by Moon Over Mountain, The Colors Of Life is a worthy musical experience that merges music from a wealth of styles. Blending keyboards and spatial electronics, the lead track “Yes, I Am Here” sounds like a mellotron-inspired instrumental that Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues would appreciate. Though half of the album is instrumental, the classically trained vocals of Ms. Buness also brings her own unique instrument to several tracks that combine vocals, sometimes without lyrics, making for a worthy keyboard-driven New Age pop sound. Programmed drums contribute to a recording that is very much DIY-sounding, yet the well-recorded sound is for the most part both edgy and meditative. Speaking about the variety of styles to be found on The Colors Of Life, Ken Roberts explains, "You know, we’ve struggled to try to communicate to our listeners what it is that we’re up to musically, and, whatever it is, we don’t feel very comfortable characterizing it in terms of any genre. Having said that, there are certainly elements of New Age, electronica and pop in The Colors of Life but there was never any attempt to shoehorn any given piece into a slot of that kind. The individual tracks emerged as whatever they are from the process of trying to work out how best to get at what the compositions were about." A renowned vocalist in the Denver, Colorado area, Megan Buness also performs with one of Colorado’s top five chamber ensembles, so she also brings her classical music training to the Moon Over Mountain vocal tracks. Compared to neoclassical electronica, Moon Over Mountain also brings a sense of humor and humility to their music. While it would be no easy feat for Moon Over Mountain to become as well-known as vintage electronic music artists like Jean Michel Jarre, it's clear that fans of Jarre, Pinder and Vangelis will be sure to enjoy The Colors Of Life, if they could only hear it.