Search - Michael Whalen :: My Secret Heart

With song titles like "Swimming in a Lovely Sea of You," one might expect Michael Whalen's My Secret Heart to be as deep in the schmaltz as Yanni playing a candlelight étude for Linda Evans. The fact that he avoids a saccharin overdose is one of the few minor successes on this album of ambient piano compositions. Taking cues from artists like Harold Budd and Suzanne Ciani, Whalen orchestrates a series of romantic mood pieces full of deeply echoing piano and electronic effects that shimmer in the background. Like Ciani, he wears his heart on his keyboard. Unlike Budd, however, he lacks the emotional austerity and distance that would allow his music to speak at a deeper level. Although Whalen spends most of his time doing nature documentary soundtracks and jingles, he does have a gift for ambient space, as evidenced by his albums Nightscenes and Like Rain Through My Hands. My Secret Heart fits in as a minor extension of these works, but the maudlin inscriptions--"Two as One" or "Addicted to You"--wouldn't pass muster on a Hallmark Valentine's Day card. Absent any irony, they trigger an automatic gag reflex that's only slightly overcome by music that deserves better. --John Diliberto