https://jeffoster.bandcamp.com/album/brothers
Genre: New Age
Rating: 3/5
The good news is this is a quality new age release. The bad news is that it doesn’t extend beyond that.
Ackerman’s playing is top notch but compositionally it leaves a bit to be desired and doesn’t reach his past standards. The songs are good but they’re not especially melodically clever and lack the magical hooks he used to hang his hat on.
Eaton’s role is far too limited. His 2021 release Snapshots by tom eaton (non caps stylized on bandcamp) is an excellent meditative piano release and the 2020 Elements tetralogy (available from the bandcamp link above) is cutting edge electronic ambient music. While I respect Eaton as an artist for staying in his lane, I think the other two should have widened his lane so the record could have benefited from his more progressive and interesting ideas.
Jeff Oster, unfortunately, doesn’t have a creative bone in his body. His playing is painfully uninteresting and back catalog is painfully bad. Straight up he shouldn’t be here. Oster’s wiki page states: Oster’s style has been described as “Miles Davis meets Pink Floyd.” but if you follow the link you’ll find the description comes from Oster himself and he’s so distant from that kind of talent – honestly, just good grief.
A three star record that could’ve been so much more without the dead weight.
Warmth Highest 