Names like Enya and Yanni are as iconic as they are formidable when it comes to the state of modern spiritual music, but there’s still very much an audience and market for the genre that most mainstream listeners refuse to reckon with. The reasoning is lost on me, but most audiences seem to prefer their music as radio-friendly as possible, and when it comes to the art of new-age genres, you’ll hardly find it on the Billboard charts. That shouldn’t be a mark on its quality, however, as every bit of new age music packs a dozen punches harder than any pop music you’d hear about through social media, or what have you.
Still, the marketability of new age and spiritual music seems lost on the younger generations and those same generations are the ones major labels are beholden to. For the experienced audience member, however, that just means that finding good music requires a little bit of digging. Artists like Chris Cornelius, who has been churning out quality new-age music for years, are just below the surface waiting for you.
Chris Cornelius is no stranger to the mainstream; he was a mainstay in the mainstream back in the ’80s and ‘90s, if you can believe it, playing in a slew of rock bands throughout Los Angeles before finding his way to what he refers to as “High Vibrational Music.” I’m sure the rock music was good, but seeing how Cornelius (with the help of his brother and co.) has so many releases under his belt in the “High Vibrational Music” genre, he seems to have found his niche and he’s sticking to it. His latest effort A New Dream is a bold, enigmatic release within the genre that features a slew of varied influences, subgenres, and pathways for audiences to follow.
BANDCAMP: https://healingvibrations.bandcamp.com/music
In the right headspace, A New Dream could function effectively as a sort of “Choose Your Own Adventure” record and a powerful one at that. The overall direction of the record feels like a score for an ‘80s picture, which is funny because Cornelius has a history of scoring a film in the late ‘80s, but there’s an unseen narrative for listeners to find themselves thrust into the middle of. You’re as likely to hear impeccable sitar (“Vital Expressions”) as you are dance tracks (“In Rhythm”) and guitar licks (“Organia”). There’s no predicting what exactly Cornelius has in mind for the overarching story of A New Dream, as the journey is the true intention of the project.
Closing the album out on the masterful “A New Dream” is perhaps the best decision on the record, however, as Cornelius opens the track with a low drone and acoustic guitar — the song builds to incorporate synths, sitar, strings, and it gracefully sends the album out on a subdued, yet complete, note. It’s a brave turn for the album to take in its finale and it pays out like a slot machine. It’s not every day an album steeped in new age and spiritual music hits the mainstream, but A New Dream is unlike every other album in the sense it demands to be heard. Chris Cornelius crafts genre-expanding work here, and subsequently brings a long under-exposed genre back to the light.
Chadwick Easton