Notes From the Woods is a mix of New Age, World Music, prog, and a touch of jazz, from multi-instrumentalist Sharon West. Inspired by and created to celebrate the beauty of nature, West has crafted twelve instrumental pieces here using a myriad of instruments, including keyboards, flutes, harps, oboes, trumpets, guitars, percussions, strings, and choirs. It's all extremely well done, and although you shouldn't expect anything that's going to reach out and throttle you, there's plenty of soothing and lush sounds here that will cascade through your speakers. The melodies created by the soaring flute mixed with gentle synths and piano on "Beauty of the Ginkgo" are quite lovely, and the lead flute lines on "Willows By the Stream" can really conjure up some stirring emotions. While Sharon is primarily a keyboard player, she really does a good job here on all instruments, especially the flute and various forms of percussion. The song "Woodland Heartbeat" is an especially interesting piece, with intricate acoustic guitars, warm synths, and an array of enthic sounding drums & percussion, sounding almost a little like the band Oregon. As New Age music goes, Notes From the Woods is overall pretty enjoyable, and much more than just background muzak.
Track Listing
1. Life Within Trees
2. Beauty of the Ginkgo
3. Morning's Dance
4. Spring at CrabApple Lake
5. Willows by the Stream
6. Native Prairies
7. Song of Meadow Lake
8. Fall Colours
9. Woodland Heartbeat
10. Walking on Joy Path
11. Sunset at the Lake
12. Nature's Lullaby
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