Across an Ocean of Dreams

by Jonathan Widran Finally, Pamela and Randy Copus release an album in the year they named their group after. Favorites on Billboard's new age chart, they go deep-sea diving on this sweeping, often majestic musical exploration of the ocean. There's not much dance of dolphins at play in the music (i.e., expect more caressing atmosphere and meditative melodies than anything too innovative or exciting), but they do evoke a bit of the classic Enya sound. On the opening track, "The Ocean Dreams," they blend a synth footprint pattern with a soothing flute and twangy acoustic guitar, all somewhat muted to give off the murky effect of bright sunlight probing beneath the darkening water. "The Sound of Still Water" and "The Sea at Night" are pleasant acoustic guitar lullabies that seduce by their very lack of percussive motion. A more lively Celtic ambience infuses "The River's Journey" with joyful movement; it comes across like a lush film score piece. The touch of acoustic piano on "Oceans of Life" is a nice organic change of pace in this largely electronic world. A great disc to put on after a stressful day when you feel like just kicking back and letting life float by for a minute.