A Miscellany of Tasteful… is proud to announce the release today of a record I’ve been waiting to hear for months now. Jeffrey Roden is an old friend from my days working at Aron’s Records and Lumpy Gravy, a restaurant and record shop located in Hollywood, and owned by animator Gábor Csupó. Today is the official release of his latest album, Threads Of A Prayer: Volume 1.

More about the album. Solaire Records out of Germany collaborated with Jeffrey, and the first thing I noticed was the tastefully minimalistic artwork and packaging, which reminded me of something ECM Records would have been proud to release. The notes on the music are copious, but the compositions themselves are the stars of the day.

There is a slow, gently plodding pace to the first disc of this album. Sandro Ivo Bartoli performs the pieces with an understated gentleness that would be comparable to the best of Harold Budd and his collaborations with Brian Eno. I have been fortunate to review a series of truly enveloping music the past few weeks, and this one is the best of the lot.

Disc two is remarkable in a different way. There are elements of the compositions of Arvo Pärt and Henryk Górecki. This isn’t Holy Minimalism, but it is something akin to it. The music is calming, expertly composed, and is perfect for deep listening and thinking the day away.

If this is only Volume 1, I await Volume 2 with a happy anticipation.