Instrumental-World-New Age Review: Bill Leslie-Celtic Peace

Release Date: May 1, 2021

Label: Independent

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After reading about every track on the new Bill Leslie album Celtic Peace, I could feel what the meaning of the lands he visited in Scotland meant to him. It was a means to end and how this recording came to be. This is what he has endeavored to do to reach an audience ready and willing to listen to the music inspired by that majestic land. After reading about the tracks, you can flip over to the back panel where there is more to read about this project and the message that many musicians have been conveying since the pandemic became a reality in the world.

Bill Said:
Celtic Peace is a product of the pandemic. Finding refuge in my music studio I wanted to create a work of beauty to help diminish the darkness of 2020. I would validate those feelings and say he has succeeded in just that and bring some light into everyone’s lives. Music is like the light at the end of the tunnel we are traveling through. Each individual is experiencing different things and an array of emotions that can be overwhelming, particularly to those that have lost a loved one to the scourge of Covid-19.

I have heard this from many artists over the last year. Some have used their music to find their way to the other side after getting the virus. In many ways, the music is as much a savior as it is for the creator as it can be for a listener needing their spirits uplifted. Today I attended a wake of a good friend that we lost much too soon. It has been very difficult to grasp the finality of this, when it was only a few months ago I was enjoying the company of that individual. I have let this music flow through me and let my inner voice and spirit guide me through my thoughts to find some healing.

Bill is the creator and producer of the twelve tracks on this worldly instrumental adventure with a solid foundation in the new age belief system and the underlying spirituality of it all. Many recording artists in the new age community are inspired by the beauty of nature that surrounds them. Bill has done exactly that by returning to the lands of his ancestors and finding quite a bit of inspiration to create another instrumental masterpiece full of joy, sadness, and beauty. At times you can hear all of those emotions within one track on Celtic Peace.

Every track on Celtic Peace not only served the purpose of being so cinematic, but I could also see the land in my mind’s eye even though I have not visited there. Yes, the power of music once again had its magic working on me right from the first track all the way to the end. I can envision this music to have many great uses for listening enjoyment, healing, or for a soundtrack to a documentary on Scotland. It would be perfect for that and I would not be surprised to see that happen.

The piano, flute, violin, oboe, Celtic whistles, guitar, and the gorgeous orchestrations provided by the creator of this recording make for a very effective mix. Every track holds the wonder and beauty of that ancient land called Scotland. America is a baby in comparison to all of the histories that are found overseas. How does one person encapsulate the grandeur and natural beauty of such a great land? If you have all the tools to translate it with your track names, visuals, and the proper instrumentation and production, and the talent of Bill Leslie, then it can and will be accomplished. All of that was fully realized on Celtic Peace.

Thank you, Bill Leslie, and all of the contributors of this amazing work, of audible art that is Celtic Peace. It came to me at the right time to give me the peace that my soul so desperately needed today. May all you seeking the same find it within in this great music!

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-New Age Music Review Founder
May 1, 2021

 

Track List:
01. Iona
02. Ben Nevis
03. Grace in Stone
04. Celtic Peace
05. Golden Eagle
06. Planxty Irwin
07. Glencoe
08. Eastern in Edinburgh
09. Foggy Dew
10. Scottish Lullaby
11. Storm on The Buren
12. Skara Brae