Aerie Trio - Water, Rock, Tree, Sky [Redshift Records]

Put out on the circuit via the Canadian Redshift Records imprint on February 20th, 2k26 is "Water, Rock, Tree, Sky", the first ever album release by the Diane Berry-led Aerie Trio which sees the Vancouver Island-based composer and flute player working in conjunction with fellow core members Nathan Jacklin and Kathryn Le Gros for a roughly 58 minutes lasting musical journey, occasionally accompanied by contributing guest artists like cellist Maria Wang and vocalist Marnie Setka-Mooney. Opening with the extended "Vancouver Island Suite" and its eight specific sub-movements the trio plus explores an ongoing dialogue between cello, flute and piano in a rather intimate and close-up setting presenting a fragile dynamic approach with its quietest moments bordering reverent near-silence, broken by carefully arranged piano cascades in "Prelude", followed by a still rural, yet defo frolicking and at times even jazzy angle in the subsequent "Beaches" before taking a rather dramatic and surely danger heralding surprise turn whereas "The Rainforest" provides calm, yet spine-tingling sonic tension paired with well hopeful, emotional, almost cinematic and certainly beautifully arranged harmonic string layers whilst "The Rose Garden" is more of a dreamy and elegic affair balancing on the edge of sweet autumnal Sunday afternoon melancholia. Furthermore the title-bearing "Water, Rock, Tree Sky" weighs in an enchanted combination of flute, clarinet and soprano vocals which combines elements of airy Classical and Contemporary Classical composition with echoes of Opera over the short course of just under six minutes, presenting genre aficionados with an unusual cliffhanger not often to be found within this musical real. Intredasting.

Album artwork on Instagram!