Inal Bilsel, “Once Upon a Cloudtop Meadow”. Honestly, the title alone conjures… well, precisely what the music delivers. It’s an album that sounds like the background music for a Studio Ghibli film that doesn’t exist yet, but absolutely should. Have you ever seen a cat yawn so widely it looks like it’s trying to swallow the sun? That level of surprising delight – that’s this album.

The album is comprised of fourteen tracks, but functions as one large, continuous cinematic piece. Bilsel, an award-winning composer and producer, invites us not so much to listen, as to inhabit a sonic fairy tale. The press release says this is achieved through cinematic composition, a blend of jazz fusion, ambient sounds, and good, old-fashioned classical elements.

But, what does it feel like?

It feels like stumbling upon a secret garden where the flowers play miniature trumpets.

It’s intensely visual music. Which is curious, considering its lack of lyrics. I keep envisioning brightly-colored stop-motion creatures frolicking through, indeed, cloudtop meadows. Each instrumental piece sets a scene. Peaceful. Serene.

Is this what clouds sound like when they gossip? Maybe.

The core message? Escapism. Pure, unadulterated, expertly crafted escapism. Which, when compared to, say, the invention of the printing press…seems vastly more fun at the present. Bilsel crafts more than mere melodies. Each song holds a fairy tale-inspired narrative.

The themes explored throughout seem to gravitate towards that of innocence and discovery. A sense of boundless optimism and, dare I say, wonder, pervades every note.

In a world often defined by its sharp edges, “Once Upon a Cloudtop Meadow” is a gorgeously rounded corner. It is nice to escape for a bit.

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