Tuesday Tunage – Ray Lynch

“Tuesday Tunage” is a weekly spotlight for music I deem worthy of a spotlight. To make it worth all of our time, I’ll do my best to emphasize tunes you probably haven’t heard before that represent the art in all its glorious varieties.

In today’s world, tools to produce and distribute music are more democratized than ever, providing an unprecedented infrastructure for independent artists to market their creations.

Classical guitarist and lutenist Ray Lynch was a virtual unknown when he released his second album Deep Breakfast in 1984.  Blending electronic soundscapes with classical strings, Deep Breakfast was a unique craft at a new crossroads of musical possibilities.  Lynch sold over 50,000 copies out of his apartment, and the album went on to sell over 1.4 million copies, becoming the first ever independently released album to be certified platinum.

The album’s opening track “Celestial Soda Pop” is Lynch’s best known tune, garnering his first Billboard Award.  The entire album is atmospherically rich, and its tracks have been used at Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park Laser Show and also at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.

Here, I share the album’s second track, a sublimely spacey little number called “The Oh of Pleasure.”  If you’re looking for a nice wrinkle in your musical rotation, you can download the album at iTunes for under $8.  I hope you enjoy!