JEFF EISENBERG, Castle of the Golden Sun

Listening to veteran composer/producer Jeff Eisenberg’s epic, inspirational and empowering, richly orchestrated and metaphor powered album Castle of the Golden Sun is an experience that offers hope for a troubled world. Drawing our hearts and sweeping our souls into a unique, intricately textured musical realm full of dynamic instrumentation, eclectic rhythms and breathtaking arrangements, it illuminates an emotional/spiritual journey that’s ultimately hopeful and fulfilling but not without its obstacles and pitfalls.

As I slowly began connecting my personal current life circumstances and challenges to the quest Eisenberg creates with three-time Grammy winning co-arranger/co-producer Lonnie Park, I harkened back a year to another great orchestrated conceptual work Castle of the Golden Sun keenly reminds me of – David Arkenstone’s Quest for the Runestone. The major difference is, Arkenstone is a legendary new age/instrumental music figure with dozens of previous recordings. I’ve long expected expressions of genius out of him. Eisenberg seems to have emerged out of nowhere to establish himself as a potentially major figure in this rarefied world.

In truth, Eisenberg, brings to this incredible project quite an impressive and diverse musical resume. A nine-time Global Music Award winner and 2024 finalist in the Intercontinental Music Awards, he has showcased his array of talents in genres ranging from children’s music and children’s theatre to country music. His songwriting career began in the early 90’s as the creator and driving force behind Junior Jam, a popular singing performance group for young children whose recordings from 1993-2015 won several NAPPA, Children’s Music Web and Kids Music Awards.

After you finish listening to the eight wildly adventurous pieces on Castle of the Golden Sun (and believe me, you’ll want to repeat this experience numerous times!), feel free to check out Eisenberg’s song “Happy Pants.” You’ll quickly understand why it was a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition in 2010 and a Top 5 finalist in Nickelodeon’s Parents Pick Awards for Best Children’s Song the following year. The composer followed his Junior Jam era with writing the music and lyrics to the youth-oriented musical My Perfect Pet that was performed in NYC and Mamaroneck, NY, with more promised engagements to come in the future. The book for the show is written by Bruce J. Robinson.

Connecting with Park during the pandemic via three-time Grammy winner and new age/world music great Ricky Kej opened up exciting new collaborative opportunities for Eisenberg. Their partnership began with Eisenberg seeking Park’s production and arranging skills to help bring his insightful song “Wonder Why (All This Is Happening)” to commercial life. This led to the formation of Coconut Creek, a country/Americana unit featuring Park (on lead vocals) and Eisenberg with various top studio musicians. Their singles include “Time to Change” (a song about moving forward and affecting change in one’s life) and most recently, the high spirited “High Fivin’ Hearts,” a co-write by Eisenberg and Tom Guarnera that won a Global Music Award for Best Americana Song for 2022 and currently has 137K+ streams on Spotify.   

None of these previous successes seem to hint at the fascinating vision and dynamic, dramatic adventure Eisenberg shares on Castle, which is truly the culmination of his life in music and his magnum opus – at least thus far, because hopefully there are more masterworks up his endlessly creative sleeve. In only 29 minutes, the composer – collaborating with Park and a large ensemble of contributing musicians – weaves a narrative filled with goals, choices, heavy duty obstacles and rough patches, hopelessness and disappointment, resolve and the ultimate triumph of reaching the top of the proverbial mountain and arriving at the castle, aka achieving the goals we set out to accomplish.

“The road to this album started about 40 years ago with a single melody in my head,” Eisenberg says. “In order to remember the melody line, I attached a lyric to it. When you listen to the opening track ‘The Journey Begins’ and the final piece ‘The Arrival,’ you’ll hear that melody line. The whimsical lyric I once attached was originally, ‘Hi-Ho, we’re on the trail of the Castle of the Golden Sun.’ This was the genesis of the album. The castle has since come to represent my (or anyone’s) goals, dreams and aspirations. We are all trying to find our individual and unique ‘Castle.’ This album is about the journey we take to get there.

“Thinking of this project on a more personal level, for many years I've had scores of melodies in my head that have never been notated or recorded. As I got older, I started to think about what would happen to these melodies when I'm gone? They'll just disappear. That was the true impetus for this project. I shared some of them about three years ago with Lonnie at his studio in Ithaca, and he told me I had enough material for a few albums. That’s when Castle officially began. The collection fully reflects who I am right now as a composer, as once the project started and the narrative appeared, I had to write more material to fit the narrative. That is something I truly enjoy, but rarely had the opportunity to do. The project brought out a part of me from a writing standpoint that was ready to appear.”

The booming drums, playful synth footprints and ominous cello at the start of “The Journey Begins” let’s us know we’re in for a life and soul changing adventure, and this first piece  helps focus our aspirations via the dual impact of the soaring strings (sometimes punctuated with emphatic  percussive rhythms) and intense drum energy. It’s a triumphant piece that perfectly reflects the idea that we always set out with great intentions, believing we can do it. The sense of “climbing” taps into our feeling that the mountain may be huge but we’re up to the challenge.

Still, there are big choices to make on our way up, as Eisenberg illustrates on “Which Way to Go,” truly the contemporary musical equivalent of Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken.” The piece starts out in contemplative mode, with Park’s gorgeous piano melody and subtle strings, and evolves with more orchestral intensity and deliberate drumming that reflects the resolve of having made a key decision as those roads diverged. These first two tracks lay an exciting foundation, but the true dramatic thrust of the album starts on the following track “Sizzling Sand,” a perfect metaphor for the uncomfortable “hot spots” and initial unexpected challenges we encounter on our quest. Eisenberg and company convey these realities with stark drums and percussion (perhaps representing our jittery feet!) that underscore the soulful, hypnotic orchestral and brass-fired chorus/motif that keeps us going through those initial setbacks.

We reach the halfway point in our journey to the “Castle” with “Search On,” which starts out in a slightly meditative, cautiously whimsical mode before revealing itself as a bold, sassy and seductive jazz romp, full of brassy joy and infused with the tenor sax cool of Morgan Price. This is a celebratory jam, a reminder that we’ve encountered and made it through those early rough spots, but we’ve regrouped and are resolved to kick everything into a higher gear. The glorious music continues, but unfortunately the fun doesn’t last – true about most things in life, right?

The dark, melancholy flow (featuring the mournful solo cello of Noah Hoffeld) at the start of “As Color Fades,” finds Eisenberg building tension into his musical narrative, a signpost along the way sharing the reality that clouds appear, uncertainty can pop in unexpectedly and disappointment is part of the human experience regardless of how hard we try to avoid it. As the track becomes more percussive, with drums booming the strings swelling back up, we’re inspired to persevere – as if there is any other choice! “Lost in Darkness” is the second tune in this darker series, an immersive piece full of trippy immersive ambience, ominous chimes, shadowy cello, and an overall haunting mood – naturally followed by cautious resolve and breakthroughs via those trademark percussive strings.

Eisenberg’s final two tracks, “Climb to the Top” and “The Arrival,” share the auspicious reality that hope springs eternal and we can reach our goals and feel triumphant IF we’re willing to shake off the gloomy fog below and draw on every bit of determination to keep reaching higher. Hoffeld’s ever-dark cello at the beginning of “Climb…” reminds us there’s still some work to do, but the marching percussion, spirited piano and soaring, triumphant horns that blast along the way inspire us to keep going until the castle is in sight. And finally, it is!

“The Arrival” relives the theme and melody of “The Journey” in a more uptempo and celebratory way. It’s a gorgeously orchestrated piece that can stand alone as a piece about striving, overcoming and reaching the proverbial mountaintop where the pleasures within the Castle and fruits of all our striving await us. It’s a truly fitting wrap to an transformational musical journey on par with any ever created in the new age/ambient genre.

Interesting to note, Eisenberg is the composer/co-producer and co-arranger of Castle of the Golden Sun but does not play any of the instruments we hear. Park lays the foundation for the sound with his arsenal that includes keyboards, piano, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, percussion and orchestral programming. In addition to the aforementioned Noah Hoffeld, the group executing their vision includes Ron Korb (flute), Mak Grgic (classical guitar), Emilia Lopez-Yanez (oboe), Chris Castellanos (English Horn), Danny Flam (trumpet, trombone, French Horn) and Dale Edward Chung (percussion).