REVIEWS...

"Seeking The Light is an honest, emotional musical statement encouraging the listener from beginning to end . . . I found it refreshing to listen to music that is effortless.”
Howard Johnston
Different Fur Recording Studio
Co-owner, Engineer and Producer; Recording Engineer for George Winston

“Eric has crafted a wonderfully warm and intimate piano sound at his Olive Tree Studio. Listening to Seeking The Light makes one feel as if Eric is there in your living room performing a personal concert just for you. Put it on, sit back and enjoy!”
Clark Germain, Grammy Nominated Engineer
Engineering Credits include U2, Barbara Streisand, Sarah Brightman, Natalie Cole, Bonnie Raitt, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, David Benoit, Iggy Pop, Counting Crows

“I found Seeking The Light to be a most pleasant project to work on. The final mix that was presented to me required very little work during the mastering process. The resulting effect is that this CD creates an easy and peaceful listening experience. This is a fine CD!”
Chris Bellman
Bernie Grundman Mastering
Engineering Credits include Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Backstreet Boys, Van Halen, Alanis Morissette, Larry Carlton, K.D. Lang, Yanni, John Tesh, Liz Story

Eric McCarl is a California pianist who is rooted in several traditions. There is the classical tradition of Chopin's Nocturnes; the 20th century impressionism of Debussy, Satie, and Ravel; and a jazz tradition whose harmonic ideas come from Erroll Garner and Bill Evans as well as Keith Jarrett. The title of Seeking the Light may sound like a new age recording, but in reality is anything but — though listeners who fancy that music would have no problem finding solace here. McCarl is wrapped tight in the transpersonal psychology realm, but it's not to be held against his gorgeous pianism, one that finds certain lushness in the sparest melodic ideas. These are only possible, of course, because McCarl's sense of intervallic harmony is keenly attuned to the nuances of silence and empty space. This is music made in a room where the imagination is allowed free rein, tempered only by an exquisite sense of melodic invention and a will to explore the nooks and crannies left in the tail ends of scalar inquiries. The left-hand strategies McCarl employs are also small, or smallish; they are the doorway to a wondrously vast sound world in miniature, a dimension that brings warmth and humanity to the mysterious, the spectral, and the ponderous. While mystery itself and its endless unfolding may be an MO for McCarl on this gorgeously rendered album, it is absolutely devoid of smoke and mirrors. What we hear is just the sound of an accomplished composer and pianist in the process of responding to his muse, while discovering the true nature of his gift. Seeking the Light is the first installment in the Trilogy of Light.
Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

Occasionally you hear an album that hits you right away. The music is stirring, the phrasing perfect and the sentiment of the work is transparently clear. It sounds good and feels even better. For me, Eric McCarl's solo piano opus, Seeking the Light, is such an album. No matter where I listened to the album, in my car going down the highway at 70 miles an hour, writing at the computer or just in my living room, I felt as though I was miles away from the buzzing intrusion of life around me.

Eric McCarl started his career at the tender age of eight years old. When we were burying G. I. Joes in the dirt or changing Barbie's outfits or both, Eric was composing piano music. He did not stop there. If a musical instrument could be blown into, plucked, or banged on - he mastered it. Although he graduated from Penn State with a degree in Computer Science, it did not take him long to realize that the world of making music was calling to him. He gravitated to the New World cultural center of the universe, Boston Massachusetts, and the prestigious Berklee College of Music. After establishing himself in the computer world and providing for his new family, he embarked on his musical career. Then, musical sponge that he is, he moved to the west coast and devoted himself to his craft, collaborating with the likes of singer-songwriter Charlie Sexton and Earth Songs composer Rob Harris. Seeking the Light is his first try.

A song called mind of a child stands out as one of the best tracks on the album. It is a brooding, pensive piece that allows you to be far away in your mind. When you hear it, you will understand.

In the tracks amanda paige, hello aja, and r McCarl wears his heart on his sleeve and let there be no doubt that his first love is family. For him, family is his foundation. His song little star starts and ends with musical nursery rhymes with a delightful ditty in the middle that brings back the childhood from anyone's memory. I can just imagine Amanda and Erin sitting on the piano bench and saying, "Play it again, Daddy."

My favorite cut on the album is called to be a man. The music does exactly what McCarl intended. It clandestinely makes you look inside yourself and wonder who you are and where you are going. I hit repeat a number times when the disc was in the changer.

It seems to me that McCarl plays not because he has to or even wants to, but because he has the fire in the belly that compels him. His passion is emotionally driven and it translates into music that soothes like salve on a fire-licked burn as well as satisfies like a hearty meal to the hungry. This is contemplative artwork. As you listen to Seeking the Light, you will see mind pictures. Your heart rate will slow down and it will become lighter.

Seeking the Light is on McCarl's own record label, Weaving Libra Records, and is part of the Trilogy of Light. I just hope I can hold my breath long enough for parts two and three.
RJ Lannan
New Age Reporter

QUOTES....

“Restful music . . . written in a Satie-like style, simple in construction, harmonic and melodic content, yet sensitive to the power of slow-paced chord changes and melodic variations.”
Donald E. Hopkins
First Violinist, Alard String Quartet
Eric McCarl’s First Music Teacher

“The work is quite lovely . . . a lot of contrast . . . a variety of inventive ideas . . . the melodies are delightful.”
Bruce Trinkley
Composer and Professor of Music at Penn State University

“Seeking The Light is especially ideal for New Age listeners. Eric takes us on an introspective journey through a beautiful garden of sound delights. I found it to be an inviting doorway to my past . . . with respect for the present and a glimpse of the future. Eric’s sensitive and reflective melodies are perfect for meditation, massage and other holistic type sessions. Share and enjoy this gift.”
Sue Almon-Pesch
Writer

“Eric McCarl has brought us the healing notes of the Universal Keyboard. This is enlightened music!”
Margaret Fitzgerald
Author of The Lost Gateways, Teacher and Healer

“Seeking The Light is the perfect music to use in a massage session. This CD has the effect of immediately relaxing my clients and putting them in a very receptive state for a relaxing or Deep Tissue massage. I must admit that the music also puts me in a state of heightened awareness which definitely benefits my clients. . . It is the only CD that clients actually request before the session begins!”
Angeles D’Arcangelo
Licensed and Certified Massage Therapist

“This music breathes! The changes in themes and rhythms are subtle, not forced or mechanical. This allows me to fully express each dance move. Many of our studio’s teachers use Seeking The Light to teach by. I think it’s really cool that someone is writing this kind of music today.”
Kylie Ellen
Ballet Student

“I’ve never thought of myself as a New Age music fan, but this solo piano CD contains passages that remind me of Elton John (early Elton), Rick Wakemen, and even Billy Joel. I like how Eric allows the listener's mind to be the background orchestration for the music . . . A very well done CD!”
John Montgomery
Circus Drum Records
Musician and Recording Artist – CD Titled One Step Away

“Nice notes Daddy!”
Erin Aja McCarl
3 year old

I loved this cd... it's peaceful and refreshing. It's simplicity is appealing and beautiful. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. McCarl and he is as nice as his music. I highly recommend this cd!
narleenkristel

I love this CD! It creates a peaceful and expansive mood whenever I play it. Eric's music is uncluttered, upbeat and inspiring.
MDM

I've never thought of myself as a New Age music fan. Although I have nothing against Gregorian chants, the sound of whales, rain in the forest, Celtic music, etc., I was born and raised listening to Rock 'N Roll. I spend most of my music time listening to Classic Rock. So, it was with more than a slight amount of hesitation that I clicked on the "Add to Shopping Cart" button beside Eric McCarl's Seeking The Light. This CD had come highly recommended from a friend whose music judgment I trust. Well, from the opening notes of "All this Wonder" to the final fade of "Hello Aja", I experienced a journey not unlike the first time I put the headphones on to listen to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" from start to finish. What a trip!

The liner notes of the CD speak of an internal journey and of secrets once heard but long since forgotten. On the inside cover of the CD booklet is what can only be referred to as a poem about Light. Now, the closest I ever got to poetry was reading the lyrics to Bob Dylan, yet there was something very captivating in this story. I re-read it several times.

As far as solo piano is concerned, Eric seems to allow the listeners mind to be the background orchestration to the music. I've since discussed this CD with the friend who referred me, and even though we both highly enjoy the music, we disagree as to which instruments we could imagine supporting the CD in various places. For instance, in the song "Alone", I hear the perfect accompaniment to be a nylon string guitar, where she swears that the French Horn would be the only way to go. In the song "Take Me Home", I would love to hear a String Quartet accompanying, while she hears, of all instruments, an Accordion (She says it's an Italian thing)! I find it interesting that Eric's music can evoke such different reactions between 2 individuals with such similar taste in music.

Although one CD doth not a New Age fan make, Eric McCarl's Seeking The Light seems to transcend Musical Genres, and does what every truly great CD (or Album) seems to do: It holds a unique message for each listener. And, as his bio states that his influences include Elton John (especially, in my opinion, early Elton), I can, without guilt, listen to this CD and still feel a connection to my Rock and Roll roots. This is a wonderful listening experience!
A music fan

Seeking The Light, the first release by Eric McCarl and Weaving Libra Records, is sure to put both names on the New Age map. In his debut CD, Eric McCarl writes of life, lessons and looking back. This CD contains 15 songs of solo piano and nearly 65 minutes of music. I was fortunate to receive one of his first Artist Profiles, and here's what Eric wrote as a description of the song "To be a Man":

"I wrote this song at a very interesting time in my life, where I had just decided to give up fighting upstream, and let the river of life carry me where I was supposed to go. This concept of letting go has been a part of many religious and spiritual teachings, even used in 12-step programs - "Let go and let God." If memory serves me correctly, I was standing in a musical instrument repair shop on a Tuesday afternoon, unemployed, with no idea where my next paycheck (much less the rent check) was going to come from, listening to a used instrument salesman pitching a piece of gear -- "only used for two hours in a very famous Recording Studio in Hollywood . . ." when I wandered away toward an electric piano that was being repaired by a kid who obviously didn't want any attention. When he finally, sheepishly looked up from his work, he told me that he had reworked the manufacturer's sound on the piano, and asked if I would like to hear how it sounded. I said yes, and put the headphones on and touched the keys. The resulting sound possessed a beauty that was unlike anything I'd ever heard, and my hands wrote this song. This song is about trusting in a higher power than ourselves, and maybe more so, realizing that sometimes immense beauty exists in those that are the most afraid to show it."

With this kind of insight, it is no surprise that each song takes the listener on their own internal journey. I've listened to this CD several times, and each time I hear something new or experience different thoughts. At a point in our history when it is most important to search inside ourselves for answers, this CD couldn't have come along at a better time. I highly recommend "Seeking The Light!" I look forward to the next two installments of this trilogy.
Todd Hoida