Soaring With the Angels is keyboardist Frederic Delarue’s second American solo release after last year’s “Voyage of the Soul.” As with the first album, the pieces are mostly very light and ethereal. Several of the tracks have a sameness about them that make this a consistent listening experience, and a very relaxing one. As an active listener, it got a little thin at times, but as a mood-lifting musical experience, Delarue succeeds in his intentions. A near-death experience as a child left Delarue with the ability to summon and communicate with his angels and beings of light, and he says “I simply let them guide my hands to compose melodies that may enlighten your beautiful soul and illuminate your heart.” Delarue also does a lot of spiritual healing with his music and composes pieces to go with people’s names. Interesting stuff. All but one of the tracks are recorded with Kurzweil, Roland, and Korg keyboards - “Celestial Lullaby” (unplugged version) was recorded on a piano. Favorite tracks include “A Moment of Bliss,” a mostly ambient piece with lots of open spaces and a floating melody; the title track is also very open and minimalistic, but has a strong sense of serenity and peace; “Celestial Lullaby” is a little more up-tempo and has a very sweet and beautiful melody - wistful and a little melancholy; and “Stillness of the Aurora,” which is again very ethereal and serene with wordless vocals and sounds that evoke colors and dreamy visions, at least for me. At his best, few can top Delarue with this type of music, although a few of the pieces are a bit formulaic and pop-ish. For relaxing, meditation, massage, and other healing activities, this is a really nice collection. It is available from amazon.com, fredericdelarue.com, cdstreet.com, and various retail outlets.