Reviews of Brian Thomas' CDs

TWU Alum up for Canadian Folk Music Award
Trinity Western University News

Brian Thomas plays more than ten musical instruments and has written almost 100 original
songs. Not bad for a guy who never picked up a guitar until the age of 17. But what is even
more impressive, his latest CD, Prairie Rain, has just been nominated for a Canadian Folk
Music Award, in the category "Best Instrumentalist, Solo".

"To successfully garner the attention of your peers is a feat not easily achieved and a great
honour," says David Squires, who was Thomas' music professor when he was a student at
Trinity Western University only five years ago. "I am thrilled for him," Squires adds.
(click here for full article)

Depth of the Heart
Alex Browne, Peace Arch News

Brian Thomas may not claim Celtic heritage, but as anyone who has heard his music can
attest, he has inherited a grand tradition of heart-on-your sleeve folk troubadourship.
(click here for full article)

Prairie Rain
Jake Nuckolls, www.cdreviews.com

The thing about good “world” music isn’t that it mashes special instruments together
(soprano recorder and dulcimer) for a satisfying reel like the Picts and English on the killing
fields of medieval lore. Good “world” music draws you into the artists vision of faraway
lands. The dulcimer hammers across the hills and the percussion drive the tunes into battle,
but the soprano recorder loftily drifts over the clouds where nothing is out of place. Thomas
hits the nail on the head.

Prairie Rain
as reviewed by W. C. Bastedo

I suppose the ideal listening conditions for any piece of music would be identical to those
which inspired the composer. Since Brian Thomas' new CD is entitled Prairie Rain, what
could be more conducive to receiving the intended impact than listening to it while driving
through the Canadian prairies? This is, in fact, exactly what I did this past July, as I made two
automotive treks across Canada in my battered Ford, accompanied by Brian Thomas' newly
released CD and - yes - by the occasional shower of rain.

In actuality, Thomas' work seems to be inspired in roughly equal parts by Ireland and
Canada, and at all times by beauty. Delicate, tasteful beauty infuses both the performance
and composition of these varied folk pieces. You have the feeling that you meet the
composer's soul in his music and that you are better for the acquaintance.
(click here for the full review)

Forum review of the song, Prairie Rain, published at www.c0nsensus.com

"A lovely and evocative celtic falvoured instrumental which indeed felt like a Prairie Rain.
The journey was an interesting one full of lush textures and the dulcimer flowed effortlessly.
Very good work. I would listen again and did!" (nb)

"As the song opens there's a strong sense of both Celtic and Native American influences --
emerging as a shower of Celtic harp notes played with precision over a rolling distant
thunder of floor toms or some other deep tone drum. It's a song of praise, of an open heart, of
redemption and rejoicing is some personal and unseen moment in Brian's life (or our own as
we listen). Strong performances are like that -- they carry you away to another place inside
us; a rare and too uncommon trait in today's too busy urban/suburban
thumpidty-thumpidty soundscape." (The Goat)

"I really enjoyed this song. It is in a genre I am very familiar with and listen to quite often.
(And I use a lot of celtic elements in my own music.) The celtic music market is quite hot, or
so I've experienced, so it's a matter of finding the right outlets for you and you'd do
marvelous. The musicianship here is excellent and everything sounds really tight;
instrumentation and sound is right there. There are nice changes throughout. There really
isn't a distinguishable melody, but a lot of music out there is more for creating mood which I
think does well." (Ms. Commerciality)

"Yeah Brother! You got the Mongo with this one. Brian Thomas has got all the skill and the
heart as this Ancient of Days Celtic Anthem cruises one back to the windswept fields of the
Green Islands. Dewy Da..as Mongo's Welsh girlfriend use to say. Most excellent at every
level. But this dudes albumn. Out of 9 Bonez - Mongo give 900." (MongoKnowsRecords)

Published at www.godsofmusic.com

It is my desire is to write a review that will do justice to Brian Thomas’s superb and touching
folk song, ‘The Forsaken Merman.’ I’m afraid that this will not be possible, but not through
want of trying.

Without meaning to be fulsome I have simply never encountered a more beautiful folk song.
The song is tasteful, textured and even heart-rending. Seldom can one use the word ‘epic’ to
apply to any artifact of modern musical invention. Even here, in actual truth, the word is
misspent. Let’s say that it is a lyrical masterpiece, in the poetic sense of the lyric. I suppose
that since – by Thomas’s account – the work took 18 months to complete, we must regard its
nearly 11 minutes duration as being actually compact. Indeed, it is a slight thing. You will
seldom spend time more prudently, than in giving this beautiful piece an audience. The
more often I listen, the more enchanted I become.

What is the song about? It’s based on Matthew Arnold’s beautiful poem of the same name.
The story can be summarized in the following way. A mortal woman has an affair with the
‘King of the Sea,’ but fearing for her mortal soul, flees back to her church at Easter, in order to
pray. In folk legend, living with a mermaid or merman cost you your soul – for they were
reputed to be creatures without souls. She does not return. The heart-rending part is that it is
her children who are calling her to come back to the sea, not the Merman. He has given up,
and lives in loneliness.

The song – despite its length - is actually a condensation of the poem, but is relatively
faithful to the poem’s wording and completely faithful to its mood. Cunningly, the song
begins simply with the sound of fingers leafing through pages, followed by gentle waves
superimposed over a church bell. The instrumentation is artfully woven into a crisp, clean
tapestry of soft sound. Continuously, the piece builds to crescendos and then descends again
into downy gentle guitar notes that fall like flakes of snow. Each instrument – guitar, cello,
violin, flute, timpani, piano, clarinet and triangle – play their part in building the rugged,
Celtic feel of this truly amazing work.

The vocals are pleasing in the extreme. There are at least three singers: Thomas himself, an
unnamed woman and a child. They each sing exquisitely.

Please listen to this marvelous piece, let it remind you what songs are meant to be.

-Cam Bastedo

Published in Mars Hill, Trinity Western University Newspaper

Brian Thomas' debut album, Storybook is an enchanting musical story about love, pain, and
loss. This Langley singer, songwriter, and TWU grad is being increasingly discovered by
audiences around the world. Cam Bastedo of www.godsofmusic.com wrote this regarding
one of Storybook's songs, "The Forsaken Merman:" "Without meaning to be fulsome I have
simply never encountered a more beautiful folk song. The song is tasteful, textured, and
even heart-rending. ... The more often I listen, the more enchanted I become."

Listening to Storybook, I was similarly captivated by the depth of thought and emotion
poured into the pieces. Brian masterfully evokes the raw humanity of the celtic-folk genre
without sacrificing artistic excellence.

Brian relates that Storybook was born out of his own deep pain and struggle. He says of this
album, "I wrote the songs as I was hurting, and as I was healing. The music was as much
about me finding a way to express my pain and rise above it as it was about he music itself ...
Writing it helped me to keep from getting bogged down by it."

Seldom have I found an album in the folk genre that I recommend so heartily both for its
incredible artistry and its sheer beauty.

- Dan Steenburgh

Published at www.cdbaby.com

Medieval bard visits the 21st century
Take a journey to a place of enrapturing music and heroic tales. Listen to it again and again,
soaring in its blend of voices, catching new harmonies and appreciating its layers. Storybook
is a CD unlike any I’ve heard. I am fascinated by the lives of the characters: torn by their
tragedies, moved by their longings, delighted to tears by their hopes and their expectant
trust. For all those who’ve ever wished for a knight in shining armour or for a lady’s favour.
For all who know what it is to wait for a dream...and for those whose dreams have faded into
the past. With soul-stirring music and inspiring lyrics, Brian Thomas brings us to a magical
place where mermen sing their loneliness, where a lover waits unceasingly for his beloved,
and where the music of love can bring back the dead. One can imagine Brian Thomas as a
travelling bard, back in medieval times, weaving his tales with song in the court of the king.
There is a vulnerability here, revealed in the recurring theme of loneliness, that hints at a
personal understanding of such loss. But even the heartache is overwhelmed by sturdy hope
- we know this is not the end of the story. And so a collection of sad songs is, in the end,
uplifting. I can’t wait for more.

-Genevieve MacNeil