Gregory Paul Mineeff - You Alone

 

Released: June 30

In another addition to his discography on Cosmicleaf Records, Gregory Paul Mineeff bring us a full-length album filled with beautiful textures punctuated by delicate bright spots in the forms of keys and guitars. Opening up with the first two tracks, "You Alone" and "Feeling Sentimental," we start with purely ambient sounds: airy pads that float through the stereo space combined with a soft yet piercing piano that lays under ounces of reverberation to craft an ethereal space in the music. The latter follows this theme do a similar degree but brings the airyness to the next level with the soft whooshing and fading of a stiff breeze in the mix. This heartfelt ambient tone is a motif that Mineeff revisits many times throughout the album, notably with the track "Words You Wish You Said." Here we have a similar elegant and piercing piano playing over shimmering pads, but later on it is joined by a slowly rising arpeggio that takes us through to the end of the song wonderfully. 

But Mineeff does not lay on the sentimentality all of the time. For example, he later introduces to "Arrival," a track with a cinematic hopefulness and a repeated guitar riff that gives of vibes of slight foreshadowing, look to what is next rather than the reminiscing feel of previous tracks. Likewise, he continues this theme a couple of tracks later with the twangy saunter that is "The Approach." This track also has a far less wistful tone and may be even just the slightest bit tense with its slightly pensive tempo. Then we end with "Just To Be Here," a more upbeat track that features the albums first and only true rhythm section and jovial sounding synths.