David Helpling & Jon Jenkins - The Crossing - (Digipack Packaging) - [CD]

Since the release of their first collaboration, Treasure, David Helpling and Jon Jenkins have spent the past two years in the depths of deep exile carefully crafting a new recording, and are now ready to resurface with The Crossing. With this latest collaboration, Helpling and Jenkins embark on a fresh sonic expedition - a cinematic, powerful and deeply melodic triumph that lifts their music to new heights. More than just a follow-up to Treasure, The Crossing is a climb, a challenge and most of all a continuation of the journey; a deliberate sequel that launches from the very place that Treasure so gently released the listener three years earlier. Jenkins explains, "We wanted to take all of the the ingredients that make a great movie or book sequel - more action, more intensity, and somewhat darker with more daunting challenges - and express them through the music on this record. According to Helpling, "The Crossing is a title with more than one meaning. Not only is it a metaphorical representation of an arduous and inspired journey across an unfathomable hardship and distance, but it is also a crossing of two paths, of two currents; the result of which is complex and beautiful as well as powerful and intangible." The Crossing is a project which ignores current trends in ambient and electronic music, and Helpling and Jenkins are fearless in their pursuit of the lush and monumental sound that dominates their artistic vision. All the essentials for an epic journey are here: compelling and expansive multi-layered drum elements contrasted by alluring yet elusive textures, strong melodies appearing over powerful percussion, synths and guitars, all of which give way to vast spaces of deep and mystifying ambience. From grand melodic vistas to enveloping sonic clouds of textural mystery, The Crossing leads the listener to the ends of the earth... and beyond.