Christopher Hawkins Silent Conversations

Christopher Hawkins released Silent Conversations after what is now a legendary performance in his home city of Sheffield at the much acclaimed Yellow Arch Studios. Using classical instruments, this two-year culmination of enchanting melody and experimental chemistry has ended with a splendid work of art which not only makes a lasting impression, but is also fresh and enjoyably different to other forms of music.

Taking us back to traditional sounds requires a love for the pure and distilled ingredients of music. As the album is paying homage to the roots of modern sounds, with renditions and variations of centuries-old echoing chants, a justice has been done when it comes to representing the sense of awe and mystery in sacred music. This choirboy from Ecclesall has grown up to be a proficiently inventive musician and composer.

The album was initially written for piano, but soon evolved into arrangements that made ample room for the colour of flutes, violins and classical guitar. But this is no full-on flurry of notated synchronicity. It's more of a gentle rise and fall in a tidal estuary.

The 22-track album moves gently, capturing an enigmatic sensation of floating slowly through Dali-esque landscapes. Track titles like ‘In The Hills’ and ‘The Embrace’ provide gravity in their prompts. This album comprises moments of musical clarity, poised remarkably in neatly arranged snippets of time, the space taken up by sound.