Light Returning

Singer/songwriters Peggy Morgan and Bette Phelan spent 20 years performing and recording folk music under the name Morgan & Phelan. Then, they switched careers, becoming therapists and yoga teachers. Now, they are back under a new name, Acoustic Ocean, producing new age music to accompany their therapy sessions and yoga classes. They are headquartered in Hawaii, which may explain the presence of extensive nature sounds intermingling with the musical instruments. Gurgling water, wave crashes, rainfall, and various animals and insects make themselves heard throughout. Morgan and Phelan are in there, too, providing wordless vocals. They also play many acoustic instruments, with Phelan's hammered dulcimer featured prominently. Occasionally, the lengthy, slow-moving compositions exhibit enough structure to suggest that, with lyrics and a little more structure, they might become songs. But as they are, the tracks seem likely to serve their purpose as appropriate accompaniment to the various new age practices in which the musician/therapists are engaged.