SKYGAZING I This album is a collection of works in a range of styles, all contemplative and relaxing, incorporating elements of minimalism, romantic classical music, new age and ambient. All tracks have an uplifting sense of space and beauty, and most of the music is programmatic in that it seeks to describe natural beauty or spiritual states. Nicolas lives in rural Cornwall and enjoys watching sunsets and the clear vast skies visible from this area. He is a spiritual man, meditating and feeling the beauty of this world and universe, and much of his music conveys depth and wonder. He sees himself as a channel for composition, and has developed rituals for work to enable this. Cello Fantasy also features Nicolas on the cello, which he has played for over thirty years now. Originally the background music was written for a hypnosis for depression, full of positive messages and spiritual healing, and this is reflected in the music. Later a cello part was improvised and practiced to perform at a wedding for friends, and that is the basis for this piece. Whalesong was originally designed to help people to fall asleep, with long slow descending calls to achieve a soporific effect. Emerging Sun also features on the album Storms, but fits perfectly into this programme. This series of releases is a mixture of old works and new (2002-2013) and features many of the best works by Nicolas in the ambient genre. There will be no beats in this series, even though some of the tracks originally featured rhythm. He is planning to release a dancey CD soon featuring ambient rhythms, house, trance and drum'n'bass tracks so look out for this if that is your cup of tea. NICOLAS CROLL Nicolas grew up in North London. the son of two New Zealander academics, and taught himself the recorder aged four. By aged nine he had grade eight and a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music. In his rather wayward teens he took grade eight cello and various performance certificates on the recorder, and spent a lot of time at raves and listening to the emerging genres of dance music. After experiencing all he wanted to of the rat race he found his way back into music and studied music technology, leading to a Masters degree in composition and music technology. Nicolas started a small business selling therapeutic cd's - music, meditation and hypnosis, and included binaural beats in many of his recordings. He studied psychoacoustics and mastered the art of inducing relaxation and even sleep through sound. Now living in North Cornwall, he is back to writing and producing music, painting, surfing and meditating. He endeavours to find beauty in sounds, and create beautiful music - whether for the massage studio or the dance floor. He hopes to earn a living through music and start a family with fiancee Abi.