Geoff Hall

“Geoff Hall – UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNS:  Though billed in the promo as “new age, orchestral-ambient”, Geoff’s wonderful debut release tends most strongly to the orchestral side of things, with some totally moving percussion woven in, around and through it!  I fell in love with it on the first tune, the 4:33 “The Run“, i think because of the percussion weave he is so excellent at… tasty orchestral patches on this one, to be sure.  His works have far more energy than the average “new age” recording, and tunes like the striding string title cut, “Understanding The Signs” will make you realize his total talent at composition right away… it could have gone on for an hour, though, rather than the 2:19 it clocks in with.  The 4:08 “Knowing” is simple, yet full of the power of spirit; I loved this one, too.  Of the eight enchantments, it was (again) the longest song on the album that caught my ear most strongly and made it my absolute favorite… “Gone But Not Forgotten” will take you back to memories you’d thought long lost, no matter what they may be, and overwhelm you with them.  I give Geoff a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of a (perfect) 5.00; meaning it also gets the “PICK” of this issue for “best orchestral composition”!  Get more information and listen to samples at Geoff’s page for this stellar release.” - Rotcod Zzaj

“Boy, is this guy a step ahead. Inspired by the modern soundtrack masters, Hall intuitively knows that if you can break into the studio system at all, they are going to make you make your bones in the under­funded Indie division where the music has to be part of the story. Hall has crafted a perfect, narrative soundtrack in search of a character­driven story. Having it all hang together as a statement on it's own like he was a student of Mancini, Hall knows who he is and with stuff like this as his debut, we're looking forward to seeing his name in credit crawls soon. Check it out. ”

“Modern Classical And New Age With Lots Of StringsFrom Geoff HallGeoff Hall is a contradiction. His debut album, Understanding the Signs, contains eight original instrumental tunes that are heavily orchestrated, primarily with string sections, apparently all created using synthesizers, but he also is a longtime guitarist although he only plays a tiny bit of guitar on one piece on this recording. Another contradiction is that several of the tunes are fairly ambient, especially “To Go Alone” and “Something More,” but these also feature lots of strings (who would have thought strings could be used in an ambient number?). But there are some catchy, upbeat, melodic compositions on the album as well (such as “Understanding the Signs,” “Gone But Not Forgotten” and “Perseverance”). Despite the contradictions, the music works well. With strings appearing on every track, the music has the feel of a film soundtrack, perhaps one of those Hollywood love stories with the strings underscoring every nuance of emotion. The short title tune, which is all strings (no other apparent instruments), is probably the most classical-sounding of the bunch (sort of Bach on steroids). But seriously, it is interesting to hear a modern composer-musician create about 80 percent of his music using strings and then fill out the rest with some dabs of piano, percussion/drums/synth-beats, and a few tidbits of other instruments buried in the mix (a plucked guitar one place, some cymbals another). This music will find favor with the broad, open-minded new age audience, especially those who like hearing modern classical explorations. This is something a bit different than usual, but definitely worth giving a listen to. ”