Water Colors

Electronic music often gets a bad rap for being overblown, less than pure, and contrived. But keyboardist Bardens makes it clear that, if textured correctly, electro tunes and rhythms can make for some engaging pop music. Water Colors is part rock & roll, part spacey and meditative, and always engaging and melodic, even on the vocal tunes. He emblazons his synth base with everything from acoustic piano to electric guitar and percussion, and succeeds in crossing the boundaries into the pop jazz realm once or twice. A few of the tunes carry a repetitive melody a little too far, a few moments meander into the stratosphere, but otherwise this collection makes for a unique listen which gives a good name to its classification as plugged in new age. ~ Jonathan Widran