New Age Music Reviews: Merrill Collins

Release Date: August 1, 2019

Label: Spiraling Music

I think the best way to start this off is with an introduction to the Every Man, Woman, and Child Yoga Flow Suite I received from the artist.

Every Man, Woman, and Child is a musical presentation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year, Spiraling Music has released a dozen new improvisations on the original ballad, which was the first grassroots expression of the UDHR ever performed for the UN (1987). More recently, the chant version won a Global Peace Song Award in 2016.

So, with the beginning of this three-part suite, I am thinking, stress causes disease and kills and music is the ultimate healer and connector to our higher power and higher self. I do not doubt that today. The connection I have with these wonderful music makers is a gift and I treasure it every time I sit down to listen and write my words.

This is a collaborative effort with Merrill Collins and David "Vito" Gregoli producing together at his studio. The featured vocalist is Kimberly Haynes with Laura Halladay on flutes and Maksim Velichkin on cello. Merrill has worked with these talented people extensively (Merrill’s Trio) and the chemistry is evident in the three suites. Don’t be persuaded to believe that this is an EP or 3 quick tracks, it’s actually 56 minutes in length and has been entered as a full album for the 62^nd Grammys New Age category. You will hear flutes, wind chimes, percussion, cello and more on this presentation.

These blessed individuals go from strength to strength with all of the instruments and gorgeous vocalizations of Kimberly Haynes on the “We The People” track. The mixture of instruments is musical divinity taking shape before your eyes, ears, and spirit. It will envelop, caress and stimulate you, all at the same time while creating your mediation bubble for healing.

The Every Man, Woman, and Child Yoga Flow Suite is a masterful performance with significant meaning for a world of confusion and negativity that needs healing in every way. If we the people heal, so will the world around us. Mother earth and its inhabitants have hope and it is music like this that injects us with the spiritual energy that drives us down the right roads to the recovery of humanity from shore to shore.

Thank you, Merrill and friends, for helping us to see the light at the end of the road.

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck

September 4, 2019

Founder of:

New Age Music Reviews

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Tracks:
1. Every Man, Woman and Child: Yoga Flow - Om Mani Padme Hum
2. Every Man, Woman and Child: Yoga Flow - Ambient
3. Every Man, Woman and Child: Yoga Flow - We the People

Release Date: July 21, 2017

Label: Spiraling Music

Website

Ethereal Escapes-Echappées Ethériques II is a sequel album. I did not hear the first installment of this beautiful and healing music but I am sure it was a great experience. The recording features Pianist Merrill Collins with Laura Halladay (flute) and Maksim Velichkin (cello).

There are 16 tracks to take in and enjoy on this release. If you read all the tracks in sequence it is a poem and the first volume was set up the same way. I think it is a very clever way for artists to express themselves besides making the music. There is a very spiritual message delivered through Merrill’s poem. So, words are part of the overall presentation however you must take the time to listen, read the tracks like you were reading a story, in this case a poem. As the artist expressed to me, the words get lost in translation due to the digital age not allowing the font formatting (lower case letters and punctuation). It would be more obvious to the individuals looking at the back of the CD that it was a part of the presentation and a piece of artistic expression to accompany the music.

It is all a healing experience as I believe much of the music I hear is, even if it isn’t new age instrumental. This is very contemporary and strongly influenced by classical. This aspect of what I have heard over the years however prevalent, is the difference maker. The classical base takes the music and approach to another level that simply cannot be reached by adding some layers of synthesizer and some babbling brooks. Those elements are good however the foundation of classical music are the keys to the kingdom.

Merrill Collins holds the keys on Ethereal Escapes II and unlocks the door to your inhibitions and they just melt away with the sounds. The musicianship is superb from start to finish. Subtle yet powerful, this music works on you one note at a time with tenderness, energy and the true spirit of our human nature. The mystical flute is always a nice touch and the cello and piano set it up perfectly, it is reciprocal with all the instrumentation. Although Merrill is the featured artist she gives equal time to her partners so they all complement each other. It is like listening to a musical language that can only be interpreted by you the listener and it comes from the inside, there is nothing superficial about it. For my ears that is the pure beauty and focus of music like this.

The title of the tracks say a lot and the music is always right there in the forefront displaying the suggested images. This is music to contemplate, relax to, focus upon and just listen without a thought. Whatever your purpose happens to be now, Ethereal Escapes II is therapeutic in every way. It comes as no surprise that Merrill has a Master’s Degree in Music. She is a master and knows how to make the music to allow all the therapeutic values of it to take hold. Much like the label she created Spiraling Music, her recordings are like a spiraling staircase of sound with each step taking you into a different space and time effortlessly.

5/5 Stars

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck

June 3, 2017

Founder of:

New Age Music Reviews

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Tracks:
01. The fountain of jewels activated!
02. Our ears tingled
03. with every heartbeat,
04. listening with our ancestors.
05. Our peaceful uprising continues
06. flowing directly to love.
07. We heard Earth weeping,
08. remembering the emerald.
09. In the bigger picture
10. with our timeless elders,
11. we are whole together,
12. living in harmonious worlds.
13. Particles in space
14. returning home,
15. riding on waves of gold,
16. triumphant upon arrival!

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Meditation Review: Merrill Collins-Every Man, Woman and Child Yoga Flow Suite

Merrill Collins-Ethereal Escapes-Echappées Ethériques II