Darshan Ambient - Falling Light (2012)

Darshan Ambient (the project of composer and multi-instrumentalist Michael Allison) presents Falling Light, the fifth release on the Lotuspike imprint. The album builds on the trajectory of its predecessor Dream In Blue (2011), but instead of balancing ambient with jazz, it emphasizes an ambient-oriented American aesthetic. The sonic foundation rests on lap steel and slide guitars interwoven with synthesizer textures that evoke vast landscapes and open skies. Allison emphasizes the album's visual quality; these guitar sounds, once subtly present, now dominate most compositions, adding characteristic warmth, though certain tracks feature piano as the primary instrument.
The album showcases genre diversity: from jazz-tinged opening to the melancholic trumpet tones (reminiscent of Mark Isham's style) in "Small Blue Ones", hypnotic rhythms in "A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky", the reflective depth of "The Immense Window", and the concluding classical choral fugue "Forgotten Sky". The overall palette merges warm ambient hues with elegant melodic phrases, painting a portrait of an American sunset through ambient composition.

Tracklist:
1-1 Darshan Ambient - Falling Light [6:07]
1-2 Darshan Ambient - Small Blue Ones [6:10]
1-3 Darshan Ambient - A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky [5:00]
1-4 Darshan Ambient - Out To Sea [5:08]
1-5 Darshan Ambient - Second Thoughts [3:51]
1-6 Darshan Ambient - The Night Coming Home To Sleep [3:57]
1-7 Darshan Ambient - Clothed In Wakefulness [4:20]
1-8 Darshan Ambient - Who Will Answer [3:57]
1-9 Darshan Ambient - To Look At In Winter [4:34]
1-10 Darshan Ambient - The Immense Window [7:02]
1-11 Darshan Ambient - Water For Horses [6:59]
1-12 Darshan Ambient - Forgotten Sky [3:54]