Sounds That Soothe is the recording name of Martin Mayer, an artist who's recently entered the world of relaxing music designed to help reduce stress and induce calm. Silver Streams is inspired by the rugged but also picturesque landscape of the Peak District in the north of England. Even though the CD cover has a warning against listening while driving or operating machinery, a la Liquid Mind, it's not the kind of music that leads to drowsiness. With landscape being the inspiration the resulting music is both dramatic and pretty, and as such it fits into that part of the new age genre inhabited by the likes of Wayne Kelling's Observations in the Woods. Traditional new age instrumentation abounds on this album. We hear lots of acoustic guitar, plucked strings (presumably a harp), piano, and synth strings - to name the most obvious. The arrangements are typically based around a theme that is repeated with some changes on emphasis and instrumentation. In this respect it's similar to Brian Carter's new age music. Brief repeated acoustic guitar chords that fade like stones skimmed across a pond begin the first track "Springtime" alongside the gentle environmental sounds of birdsong. Plucked sounds with a curious piano lilt then pitter-patter as though they are musical drops of rain. It's very much like being in lovely countryside on a spring day when rain comes down but doesn't spoil the magic of seeing life yawning and stretching now another winter is over and its time to "wake up". The following two tracks, "Highland Sunrise" and "Morning Sunshine", are quite orchestral in character with the addition of swathes of chords played out on string effects or flute sounds - these tracks bear particular comparison to Wayne Kelling's album. An especially interesting track is "Night Swimming" (incidentally, the longest at nearly eleven minutes). A simple rhythm is played out on guitar somewhat in the manner of restrained strumming while a simple melody comes in hinting at bodily pleasures, and eventually synth pads help to fill the piece out. I envisioned this piece as the soundtrack to a secret pleasure in a place of pleasant mystery. Yes, Silver Streams can definitely be relaxing, although I found that some of the repetition to be a tad grating at times. The album sits towards the minimalist end of the spectrum. Overall though, its uplifting outlook and prettiness won me over.