The Wishing Well by New Age ensemble 2002 lives up to its name, connecting listeners to a profound, ancient sense of hope and desire. The album possesses a magnificent cinematic sweep, with Randy, Pamela and Sarah Copus deploying rich volumes of strings, flutes, harps, and guitars, sometimes underpinned by sparse, ethereal percussive vocals, and features special guest violinist Keyreel Raskolenko on the opening track. This is music that evokes huge mountains, endless seas, and planets whirling slowly, creating an endless symphonic sensation that is both grand and deeply intimate.
Listen whilst you read on…
The album takes flight with “Overture: The Restless Heart,” a track that showcases the band’s range of composition styles. It’s a spectacular, big-screen zephyr of sound that slowly builds before exploding with strings, guitar and flute, all soon come riding in on many powerful horses. The overture also features a special guest violinist who adds a brilliant layer of instrumental detail. Together we are riding giant horses going toward the sunrise with a new day to embrace.Â
Contributing to the album is Uzbekistan-born multi-instrumentalist Keyreel Raskolenko is a virtuoso player on 4-string and 5-string acoustic and electric violins. He is a classically trained musician with experience in classical chamber and orchestra music, fiddle music, improvisation, and music composition, he studies and plays jazz and occasionally performs with friendly bands on his 5-string electric violin.Â
The arms of the world spread open before us, uplifting our ears until we hear the Milky Way and our place in its spiral. Track 4, “The Spiral of Heaven” (3:50) brings streaming light beaming above, a piano in the cosmos, sounding slow and angelic while a harp builds the path up the stairs, adding very quiet delicate little pieces that fit perfectly, and the flute completes the picture, so big and beautiful, breathtaking and quiet. The bejeweled night sky appears to be completely still with some rare tiny scattered flashes. Track 5, “Dream Chasers” (3:56), brings changes, the feeling is something more frisky, light, and joyful, leaping about in tall grass at twilight with fireflies chasing each other through cascades of melodies, rhythms and textures.
With a cool piano lead–graceful, slow and easy–we seek safety and sleep. Track 7, “A Safe Harbor” (3:53) takes all the time it needs, the feeling floats, slowly considering the depth of the water. Continuing the theme of music for sleeping, we drift off on an easy glide, all is smooth and relaxing as track 8 opens, “On the Wings of Angels” (4:01). Perhaps the wings of angels represent a belief in divine messengers and protectors that travel between the Earth and the celestial realms. We share a desire to be connected with the divine, radiating positive and sustaining emotional vibrations as the strings lift us up.
The Wishing Well is an invitation to a personal journey, one that successfully bridges diverse cultural mythologies with the band’s own rich history, all wrapped in a lush, highly produced sound. 2002 continues to prove that their willingness to blend styles across decades is their greatest strength.Â
Explore our previous 2002 review of Hummingbird, in which Dick Metcalf wrote, “2002’s abilities are far above the norm…” Indeed, this is true
We’ll be adding “On the Wings of Angels” to our CFR Drifting Dreaming Chillout Playlist.
Enjoy The Wishing Well on the platform of your choice here: https://album.link/2002thewishingwell
