Product Description
2 Blue Wisp
3 Triangulum
4 Andromeda
Genres: New Age, Healing, Meditation
On Galaxies, Grammy-nominated flutist Peter Phippen, mystic sound healer Rahbi Crawford, and award-winning composer Ivar Lunde Jr. weave a universal thread of the Divine in this intuitive improvisational offering.
Crawford’s crystal bowls lay the groundwork upon which Phippen’s antique shakuhachi flute vibrations soar. Lunde’s cosmic synthesized soundscapes assist in unfolding the magic from Spirit, creating captivating imagery from all that is Mother Nature.
Upon their first encounter in 2013, Phippen and Crawford strongly felt they were sonic soulmates. Within their first thirty seconds of collaborating the connection was undeniable. “It was like we had played together all of our lives,” says Phippen.
“Each time Peter and I improvise music we are swimming in the same stream of consciousness,” adds Crawford.
As Phippen and Crawford serve as mediums to convey music of the ethers, the channeling effect is doubled and intensified, opening a door for the sounds to pour out.
RJ Lannan, Zone Music Reporter: “It was not long before I found myself lost in the flow and pulsations, becoming a small part of the occurrence. I have to admit I was impressed by how the music was balanced among the instruments, none overpowering the other in what was a show of respect for each other and the music.”
Phippen and Crawford have released three collaborative albums and performed Sacred Sound for the Soul concerts including headlining the 2016 World Flute Society Convention and 2018-2022 Summer Solstice Concerts at Kinstone, Wisconsin’s Stonehenge.
Amythyst Raine, Amazon Best-Selling Author: “For years the beautiful and haunting melodies of Peter Phippen’s music have filled my home. I’ve always waited in anticipation for the next creation, and I’ve never been disappointed. Once again, this talented artist comes through with a uniquely soul-soothing series of melodies created with antique shakuhachi flutes, the musical magic of Rahbi Crawford and Ivar Lunde Jr. These channeled musical journeys produce a calming ambience and a unique atmosphere for meditation, reflection, and relaxation.”
Peter Phippen Bio:
Over the past three decades and 22 albums, Phippen’s experiential, natural folk style revealed a penchant for creative and artistic sonic improvisation. He’s researched the history and performance technique of traditional flutes from around the world and throughout time. Phippen was the first non-Native American flutist signed to Canyon Records, which released his classic 2003 album Night Song. In 2010, his Woodnotes Wyld: Historic Flute Sounds From The Dr. Richard W. Payne Collection was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Native American Music Album category.
Rahbi Crawford Bio:
While studying sound healing in the south of France, Crawford was introduced to the therapeutic properties of crystal singing bowls. Creating sound healing concerts eventually led to sharing these transformational experiences as part of Mayo Clinic’s Creative Cancer Renewal Program in Rochester, Minnesota where Crawford provided the background music for their DVD, “Mindful Movements: Gentle Yoga.” Besides her extensive musical training, Rahbi brings her own emotional healing spirit into the music of Galaxies.
Ivar Lunde Jr. Bio:
Ivar Lunde Jr. is a 20th century experimental electronic and classical music composer educated at the Conservatory of Music in Oslo, Norway, and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. A prolific composer, he’s been awarded numerous prizes and commissions over the past 50 years with many works published and recorded in the United States and Norway. Active as a conductor, he’s worked with symphony and chamber orchestras in both Europe and the United States.
Reviews Editor –
From Exposé
Joint review of Ghosts and Galaxies
The two releases at hand center around flutist Peter Phippen, who has nearly two dozen albums across three decades. Phippen has researched the performance techniques and history of a variety of traditional flutes worldwide and throughout history, specializing in an unaccompanied, experiential style of improvisation. Such is the nature of his latest release Ghosts, his third for Projekt records, preceded by 2022’s Into the Ancient. The sounds of his solo flute improvisations are at once mysterious, graceful, refined, and captivating, the sound surrounding the listener like a warm blanket on a cold starlit night from the top of a precipice, the waves of shimmering sonic beauty wafting across the sky. The mesmerizing sound of the solo melodic flute has an additional cosmic power to gently calm the listener, bringing one full circle into a spiritual direction should the listener be open to it, the echoing sounds and improvised melodies calling forth unknown spirits — or Ghosts. There are eleven pieces that wander freely, most in the four to seven minute range. The astute listener will notice a psychological change that occurs as each piece unfolds — it’s just the nature of the instrument and Phippen’s style of celestial communication.
With Galaxies, Phippen teams up with other musicians to deliver a similar cosmic unfolding, containing four longer pieces — three of them break the fifteen minute mark — adding some sonic variety to the mix, even though it’s still Phippen’s flutes (shakuhachi) that are central to the overall effort. A fifth track is a five minute radio edit of the third, “Triangulum,” which at full length clocks in at a little over fifteen minutes. The additional instrumentation on Galaxies comes via Rahbi Crawford, playing crystal singing bowls — their presence is subtle but an important element in the overall fabric of each piece — and Ivar Lunde Jr., who weaves in synthesized soundscapes and additional sonic elements that can be heard in the background of every piece. Again, the result here is a captivating, mesmerizing, and thoroughly experiential listen that provides additional dimensions and mysticism to the immediacy of Phippen’s flute improvisations. -Peter Thelen
Reviews Editor –
From Audion #72
Galaxies combines Peter Phippen’s mystical flute playing with the crystal bowls of Rahbi Crawford and gentle synth washes of Ivar Lunde Jr., and sounds exactly like something that would have come out on one of the many “new age” labels of the 1980s. As such, maybe you’ve already got the likes of Deuter or Emerald Web doing such music, although here it’s all done in a most restrained manner without the dominance of melodies. That, and the pure clarity of the recording, may well make it of interest. -Alan Freeman
Reviews Editor –
From Dave Aftandilian
I have always loved the simple beauty of solo flute music (such as that of R. Carlos Nakai). The notes emerging remind me of sunlight trickling down through leaves, or a gentle breeze rippling the surface of a stream. Here the synth textures and chimes add a depth and expansiveness to the flute melodies, allowing them to open deeper meditations and Mysteries for the listener.