Carolyn Yarnell's Sonic Vision is unfocused and vague. In this album, she plays heavily on clich�s, though in one piece, she touches on a bold and original idea. The album starts with "The Same Sky," a lengthy piece reminiscent of George Winston on speed. The tracks that follow include a three-part baroque composition, which was commissioned for American Baroque (a San Francisco-based chamber group that uses traditional Baroque instruments). While the composition loosely follows the rules of Baroque with hints of Aaron Copland, it doesn't flow from the rapid, twinkly patterns of the album's first song.

Yarnell yanks the listener yet again into another genre with "Love God," an inspired foray into electronic chamber music with a techno beat. She toys with heavy-handed augmented synthesizer chords and effects to provide a sense of a bassline and a strong 4/4 techno beat. A few minutes into the piece, and lo, an electronic percussive track kicks in and entwines with the strong synthesizer pattern. Yarnell herself interjects with a lovely aria, which is then rudely interrupted by a heavy Liszt-like piano solo. Although this piece somewhat reflects the confusion of the album, she harnesses this chaos with confidence. This piece is imaginative, and gives hope for future works by Yarnell.

While the remaining piece rambles a bit, they do play on a few interesting ideas and make good use of effects. It�s not apparent, though, how this composition fits into the rest of the album.

Sonic Vision sounds more like a sampling of Yarnell's musical ideas than a full-length album. Perhaps Yarnell needed to get this out of her system, to clear the way for more focused and adventurous compositions. Given her long musical history and superb synthesizer skills, I think we have a lot to look forward to.