That isn't an overstatement. I was in the tail end of my high school journey, and my music life was centered mainly around rap (hey, I was 17) and hard rock. Aside from the rare excursion into classical, I'd never ventured far from those genres. But, one day I was in my favorite music store, and they had this big display for an album called "In The Wake Of The Wind." When I asked about it, I was told that it was a New Age album from a guy named David Arkenstone. The display featured a big map of a fantasy land, and there was an associated contest going on with it. Well, I thought, what the heck? Let's give it a whirl.

Almost ten years later and I'm still whirling. After hearing "Wind" I was hooked. The music had such passion to it, and the soundscape he created was almost visible in its intensity. I was swept away with the music, caught in the fantasy that Arkenstone was creating, and on pieces like Overture I could practically feel the salty spray of the waves on my face and the wood of the tilting deck beneath my feet. He really just blew me away. And from there I was an Arkenstone fan, buying each CD as it came out, and getting his past works. Those led me to other New Age CDs, and now my collection is bulging at the seams. This one album helped to open my eyes to what music could really be. It truly changed my life. If you want to be taken on a journey yourself, I highly recommend this CD. Do yourself a favor and buy it today.

The first time I heard of David Arkenstone was this past summer when my high school band director gave us the music for our show this year. We performed Voyage of the Stardancer: Overture, Stardancer, Lion's Breath, Morning Sun on the Sails, Through the Gates, and Sailing. It's not the usual music you hear a marching band performing, but it worked. As the season went on, I grew to really like the music, and wanted to hear more of it. The CD has completly different versions of the songs. The melody is all the same, but all the selections are longer and have a different feel some of the time. I actually like the versions on the CD better because they're softer, and more relaxing. You can usually hear the Irish background in the music, but it comes out really clear in Through the Gates. If you even slightly like the feel of Irish music, you should definatly listen to this! It's so awesome, and so worth getting it.

When I first heard this CD, I was immediately entranced by its soothing and flowing music. At times when feeling stressed out by the days activities, I would play this music to help me kick back and relax. David's music gets the imagination going and at times you can almost feel as if you are carried away on some journey; sailing to a place where none have gone before. I would recommend this CD to anyone who wants to try David's music for the first time. His music has left an impressin on my mind and perhaps it will leave an impression for you as well.

If you are someone that is cautious about buing a CD that you've never heard of before, then this is one that you should not have to worry about at all. You'll immediately come to like the music and will want to buy more of David's music. Right now, I have about seven or eight of his CDs and am continually buying more of them. I hope this review is helpful for you to buy music by David Arkenstone.

"Citizen of Time" was the first Arkenstone album I heard. "In the Wake of the Wind" was, seemingly, even more adventurous, and today is quite possibly my most memorable album. "Wake" is one of Arkenstone's best works, and showcases his multi-instrumental talent beautifully. An adventure is brought to life through each track's diversity and rich sonic tapestry.

Arkenstone is always good; but out of the dozen albums of his I have, this still comes across as the strongest. There's a greater feeling of organic unity between the parts, rather than being a scatter of songs, the pieces of a soundtrack, or something pasted together by a written programme. In detail, beyond "Gee, I liked/didn't like this," if you want to know what you're getting: 1. Papillon (On The Wings of the Butterfly): opening, morning flitters that pan into a heartbeat bass over a repeating rush and sparkle and under an upbeat melody that builds to nice peaks. (5:20) 2. Dark Dunes: jazzy melody, upbeat, a bit Caribbean but grounded in moody bass. (3:13) 3. Not Too Far to Walk: cheerful flute over walking reggae; sax and an urban edge. (4:13) 4. Borderlands: something impressive comes up over the horizon on a breeze; almost menacing horn keyboards lightened by chimey strings; base instruments restate massiveness; fades out lightly. (5;36) 5. The Rug Merchant : Reflective, slightly exotic medium beat with no signature ethos. The jazzy flute sneaks in on its best behavior with the guitar and shimmer. (3:33) 6. Firedance: dark base on Caribbean boppy; picks up bright defiance. (3:55) 7. The Southern Cross: reverent and awed organ with distance voices until the rocking drum, bass, and piano lead in the expansive horn and occasional pizzacato; harpsichord break. (5:21) 8. Overture: piccolos over invisible strings bring up the sun before whole orchestra swings into a mild hornpipe; turns suddenly insistent; breaks into harp run; flute turns the hornpipe melody into a sombre romantic reflection; snap back to the insistent orchestra and calling horns at 3:10. (3:51) 9. The Stardancer: Celtic jig, with imitation drone brought under some parts. (4:04) 10. Morning Sun on the Sails: Peer Gynt flute opening again, joined by gentle violin and others. All very quiet, slow, and lovely. At one point recalled a couple of notes of "There's A Time for Us" from Westside Story, to let you know how romantic it runs. (2:35) 11. The Lion's Breath: seabird flutes, but with a forboding of deep drums slowly building through the base section (nice job; unexpected structure); crescendoes into full-bellied sails pushing across the deep; cuts into and trails off in music box and actual seabirds. (3:18) 12. Dances of Jankayla The Marketplace: balalaika East European folk; picks up a good beat for dance. (1:02) The Gypsy's Veil: very tzigane sounding, more Balkan perhaps; the violins get undulous. (1:12) The Festival: distinctly Carribean with banjo into steel drum band, later with Tower of Power horns; fine musical variation on the theme, but out of place culturally with the other two. (2:51) 13. Discovery: choral and chimes, headed into solid beat, calling horn, back to heavy chimes, rolling thunder second opening; travelling music; a bit Wizards. (3:36) 14. Emerald Dream: opens with sound like distant bagpipes; quiet fantasia by flute, strings, and harp. (1:55) 15. Through the Gates: soft, sparkling opening is opened by horn keyboards into upbeat, cantering or skipping melody largely on the strings; big blast then trail off in near silence. (3:10) 16. Sailing: calm, reminiscent piano. (1:48)