Daydreams is the second album from pianist Keith Phillips. His website banner describes the music as solo piano, yet this album is actually a series of piano orchestrations including strings, flutes, guitar, percussion, and heavenly chorals. Obvious points of reference are Yanni, Enya, George Winston, and 2002. This is an album that is unashamedly romantic with tracks ranging in mood from thoughtful to joyous. Piano music can be an acquired taste, so the relatively short length of the tracks and the additional instrumentation helps in this regard. There are seventeen tracks in all, with the longest being six minutes long, which means there's a good variety of moods ranging from the intimate connection between two people to expansive visions of mother nature's work. Rolling piano melodies, orchestral synth effects, and sustained chorales make the opening track "Hawaii" a dramatic piece of music that is redolent of Yanni's style. Another dramatic piece that immediately captivated me is "Caribbean Storm" where rolling low piano notes evince a sense of dark stormy clouds while unobtrusive percussion, occasional drum refrains, sweeping strings and choral effects, and a delightful melody on the piano's higher notes convey a sense of tense excitement. Though Keith excels at these kind of pieces he's also adept at performing simpler and slower compositions. A good example is "Beautiful", here a reflective solo piano melody speaks to the part of our being that appreciates the fine things in life whether they be people or inanimate objects. In the liner notes Randy Copus of 2002 is thanked for his advice and encouragement, so maybe the piece "A Smile" is a nod to him because the romantic piano, chorals, and other instrumentation are delivered in a typical 2002 manner full of buoyancy and cheery melody. What I think makes Daydreams stand above the run of the mill new age offerings is very good production quality and the classy orchestrations which lift up the piano compositions. This is the kind of music that works really well for night time listening, especially in the company of a lover.