Alan Hinde

‘Alan Hinde is one of the most recent arrivals on the Australian new-age music scene. While The Twilight of Dreams is understated and somewhat akin to Steven Halpern’s minimal style of music, Hinde’s background and personal interests have been quite diverse, encompassing classical music and jazz.
‘Hinde studied piano and viola with private teachers and then electronic styles at the Canberra School of Music. Mostly he specialised in piano composition, but in 1984 he began using a synthesiser. He was already interested in relaxation and healing, and preparing The Twilight of Dreams - which is essentially improved music for meditation - was a natural progression.
‘The music on this cassette was played on a Yamaha DX7 synthesiser and runs for 30 minutes on each side - which is rather good value these days. Mellow and gentle, it was actually recorded during two meditation sessions, which gives it an added dimension. Personally, I think The Twilight of Dreams is very effective as a meditative backdrop and will prove popular with therapists using progressive relaxation as part of their approach.’
Recommended.
Nevill Drury
- Nevill Drury

‘Alan Hinde is one of the most recent arrivals on the Australian new-age music scene. While The Twilight of Dreams is understated and somewhat akin to Steven Halpern’s minimal style of music, Hinde’s background and personal interests have been quite diverse, encompassing classical music and jazz.
‘Hinde studied piano and viola with private teachers and then electronic styles at the Canberra School of Music. Mostly he specialised in piano composition, but in 1984 he began using a synthesiser. He was already interested in relaxation and healing, and preparing The Twilight of Dreams - which is essentially improved music for meditation - was a natural progression.
‘The music on this cassette was played on a Yamaha DX7 synthesiser and runs for 30 minutes on each side - which is rather good value these days. Mellow and gentle, it was actually recorded during two meditation sessions, which gives it an added dimension. Personally, I think The Twilight of Dreams is very effective as a meditative backdrop and will prove popular with therapists using progressive relaxation as part of their approach.’
Recommended.
Nevill Drury
- Nevill Drury

‘This is music for meditation - where you go to still the hectic conscious mind and be in that quiet place where you are one with spirit. The Twilight of Dreams has a quiet flowing softness, almost subliminal, ...Alan Hinde has composed this improvised music whilst in a meditation using synthesised piano. He appeared recently in Sydney providing background music for Denise Linn in a past-life seminar, effecting a hypnosis through sound, a spiral into the subconscious. Recreated excellently on this cassette, waves of motion suspend the conscious self to allow you to travel in your mind to your own place of peace.’ - Souther Crossings

'Bubbling Cascade is possibly unique in that Alan Hinde is the creator of not only the music, but also every other aspect of the entire CD package. As well as composing and playing all the music Hinde has painted a watercolour for the front and back covers and written two poems related to the music. He also recorded it at his home studio. Thus it is a very complete ‘concept album’.

The watercolour painting of mountain sides and flowing water is appropriate to the subject matter of the music. The painting is well composed and technically good. It is clearly influenced by landscapes of the Japanese Edo period. However the poems, with their archaic language and forced rhyme seem awkward and self conscious.

Like Hinde’s previous recordings, this CD has been created to appeal to people interested in music for relaxation/meditation. All the music is played on a keyboard synthesiser, using a wide variety of sampled[*] sounds. In keeping with the relaxation theme, most of the music is soft and pleasant. The tracks tend to be quite long some titles, like ‘Forgotten World of Light’ are rather ‘far out’.

All the music is programmed[**]. Sometimes it captures an image or feeling quite well, as in the upward spiralling of ‘Gulls’ or the lilt and cross rhythm of ‘A Walk in the Far Country’. At other times Hinde’s attempts to conjure an image seem too intellectual, as if a film director had asked for 36 second of arctic snow, then 44 seconds of waterfall.

Being generated by a synthesiser the music doesn’t live and breathe. The volume, tempo and timbre are so perfectly controlled that the sound becomes relentless and mechanical.

Sometimes Hinde’s music is very evocative. It seems to be background rather than foreground music. Film soundtrack work might suit him well.’
- Stephen Rosenberg

‘This is music for meditation - where you go to still the hectic conscious mind and be in that quiet place where you are one with spirit. The Twilight of Dreams has a quiet flowing softness, almost subliminal, ...Alan Hinde has composed this improvised music whilst in a meditation using synthesised piano. He appeared recently in Sydney providing background music for Denise Linn in a past-life seminar, effecting a hypnosis through sound, a spiral into the subconscious. Recreated excellently on this cassette, waves of motion suspend the conscious self to allow you to travel in your mind to your own place of peace.’ - Souther Crossings