Nominated for ambient album of 2017 by One World Music Radio and Included in Kathy's list of favorites for 2018:

mainlypiano.com/favorites/kathys-favorites-2018

On November 7, 2017, I received a phone call from my mother who told me through tears that hospice was with my brother Joe and he wasn't waking up. I took a flight out that afternoon to spend what little precious time there was to be had with him before he lost the courageous battle he had been fighting with a rare aggressive form of sarcoma, a cancer that had spread to multiple organs throughout his body in less than a year.
On November 16, exactly one month before his 47th birthday, my baby brother went home to heaven to congregate with the angels and other relatives our family has tragically lost over time. This album is a tribute to the memory of a great man who was a loving husband, a courageous brother and father who will eternally watch over his two children for all the rest of their days on Earth.

Each of the 5 songs on this album, which were composed between November 25th and 29th, has a story behind it and they were written to convey a sense of the tears and heartache that we all have experienced as a result of this great man being taken from us way too soon.

We mourn, not for him because he is no longer in pain but for our loss as we are left behind to live our lives, a little emptier because of his brave journey home.

Sacred Ground was written to convey a sense of stillness and quiet in his home for the last week and a half of his life. The people from hospice told us that he was in transition and that the living room where he was sleeping was sacred ground. I felt that the organ was the instrument of choice to reflect what had become a sacred space for his journey home.
Whispering voices was inspired by what happened one night when my mother was sitting with Joe. She thought she heard some whispered or muffled voices, and thinking it was his wife or the television in the other room, got up to look around. There was no other sound in the room and yet she kept hearing the voices. Being a spiritual person, she would tell me the next day that it was the angels saying they were ready for him.
Momentary presence was improvised to convey my own experience of a fleeting supernatural encounter as I sat by Joe's bed side one afternoon. I thought I felt someone standing off to the left of the chair I was in and when I called out "who's there", no one answered but I felt as if there was someone physically present for a brief moment.
Transition, the title track of the album, represents my interpretation of the angels calling him home, to a world of no pain, one where he will be eternally free from the bonds of mortality.
The Last Goodbye was written to convey my sadness at saying farewell to Joe for the last time and ensuring him that it was okay for him to go home. It was a very emotional tear-filled couple of minutes for me as anyone who has lost a loved one can testify.

Joe, you will be forever missed and I know in my heart, that part of myself that is intuitive and beyond logic, that you are watching over all of those you have loved and held dear in your previous life.

Review from Noise Beneath the snow:
One of the amazing things about ambient/dark ambient music is that it often helps paint a picture and put into perspective that which is simply indescribable
in words.  Such is the case here in our offering now.  Moreover, indescribable is surely a word the artist encountered when it came to the theme behind
this album.

Transition is the new release from ambient composer Scott Lawlor.  The theme of the album revolves around the emotional dynamics involved in the passing
of his brother.

Transition is a beautiful record containing 5 tracks, each one conveying an emotion or specific situation the artist experienced in his mourning; The stillness
before the transition, the feeling of the presence of a loved one after they’ve passed away, the heartache of saying “Farewell.”

Transition definitely has a more intimate and personal feel to it as opposed to many ambient releases which seem to drive the listener into the ether or
the subterranean.  Moreover, while some ambient albums appear seamless from start to finish (take for example Steve Roach or Robert Rich’s work), Transition
quite successfully reads like chapters in a book, and one that is deeply personal, mind you.  When is the last time you heard a church organ sound on an
ambient release?  Scott Lawlor ignores a lot of the rules of ambient music.  But then again, there is no “rule book” to coming to grips with the loss
of a loved-one.  

Loss of a loved one is something we’ve all experienced as humans.  Some of us are further blessed with the capability to transform our sorrows into sound
or words and perhaps inspire listeners or readers in the process.  From listening to Transition, it’s obvious that it must be a painful journey for Scott
Lawlor.  But I suppose it’s a positive thing that there are ambient albums out there that take you through more personal territories and not those located
in the ether or subterranean.
noisebeneaththesnow.com/2017/12/17/scott-lawlor-transition-album-review-ambient-drone/

"Transition has to be one of the most meaningful albums you will have heard this year, this is the Transition of the human body and the continuation of the journey of souls.
I mentioned in my last review of Scott’s work, Look Unto the Heavens, of his brothers fight against Cancer, while the fight maybe over, the transition now takes place, and in this extremely honourable and respectful album Scott achieves something that no one in humanity, as far as I know, has done, literally creating a soundtrack for that moment that we all must face at some stage in our lives.
Scott Lawlor’s sense of need in this piece is extreme, on Sacred Ground there is energy of that change taking place, with the last breath gone, the soul begins to move away from the human form and into freedom and of course free from pain. The organ like keyboards here have such a loving reverence that they manifest a slowing down of time, perhaps even removing time itself from our reality.
The depth in this piece is so vast it is incalculable; it is like walking through a doorway that leads to a realm that is beyond human comprehension, and this continuum of sound and tone, is one that has been with us since the very moment the first star flickered. Sacred Ground as a starting point is a wonderfully poignant arrangement played entirely from the emotions, and beautifully so.
The journey of souls continues and we find ourselves cocooned on this voyage with him, we can now listen to and witness an amazingly ethereal composition entitled Whispering Voices. Lawlor’s artistic truth here offers up a vista of a completely peaceful transition, one that has started to let go of all things mortal and such allows the ether to guide his way along the beam.
Whispering Voices as a track, is electronic mastery like you have probably not heard since the late, but great, Isao Tomita. Time seems an irrelevance now as we float with the synths and enjoy the swirling colours of this quite outstanding voyage of reconnection.
We now find our musical selves at the doorway to the many answers and questions we have had, and we find that through Momentary Presence (Featuring Wings of an Angel) we can achieve much by letting go and allowing those wings of love to encircle us.
Musically this is up there with artists like Jonn Serrie and Kevin Kendle, there is a wonderfully universal energy about this one that carries such an empowering and happy message for us all, that all is going to be well and more so, all is as it should be. This is truly one of those compositions that you will be deeply moved by, touched perhaps by an angel, touched by the one thing that could unite us all, unconditional love.
The journey has continued through a myriad of musical dimensions, many connections have been made, and realisations discovered, and at this point the Transition can be completed. This is the grand title track and one that is so amazing, it may even move you to tears. There is built within the construction on this piece a layer of peace, a bed of tranquillity that is so free and empowering, all fear and pain has now melted into a vortex of love.
This grand opus of nearly half an hour is the ultimate long form composition that many electronic artists would not dare to do, but with Lawlor’s skill set and heart felt honesty, this is truly a composition that not only highlights the actual energy of the final transition, but delivers to us a piece of music that is filled with dimensions of sublime synths, that literally create a whole new reality for the soul.
The final offering on the album is called, and quite poignantly, The Last Goodbye. We can now end our journey with the musician and drift back to our realm of reality. The tones of the piano manifest a mood of finality, of a change that has been completed. This has to be the most beautiful piece off the album, one can feel through the keys a true release has occurred, and a oneness of spirit has been achieved. Scott Lawlor has gifted us the perfect finishing movement, and we can through its harmonic convergences feel a sense of happy completion.
Transition by Scott Lawlor is one of those special albums that is created from a divine connection that few will ever feel, this is true soul music, each track on this release has been crafted, but by being connected, by allowing an open heart to flourish musically. Ambient genius, of course, but this is much more than that, this is one of the most beautiful and emotional releases in this genre by a mile for many a year, and Lawlor should be proud of this cathartic musical manifestation that he has allowed himself to create."
Review by Steve Sheppard, One World Music Radio
www.mixcloud.com/OWM/audio-review-for-scott-lawlor-and-transition/

"If you are into soulful, thought provoking and consciousness expanding ambient music, Scott Lawlor is a composer and artist who needs to be on your musical
radar. His vast body of work will keep your ears attuned for a long time to both your inner spirit and that indefinable “other” in the Universe. A visit
to his incredible Bandcamp page (scottlawlor.bandcamp.com/music) reveals a staggering 209 releases in this genre. Two of his latest demanding our
deepest attention, Look Unto the Heavens and Transition, are insightful musical-philosophical reflections and deeply therapeutic instrumental pieces. Both
were lovingly  crafted as a response to his beloved brother Joe’s suffering with stage 4 cancer - and his ultimate transition beyond this mortal coil to
more heavenly realms free from these human limitations.

Lawlor pointed me towards Look Unto the Heavens as the poetic “open door,” a rich and expansive inner search for a meaning to suffering that sets up Transition,
a multi-faceted five track meditation he composed in late November 2017, less than two weeks after Joe departed. Look to the Heavens used its offbeat lengthy
titles to tackle some of these heavy mysteries comprising the eternal “Why.” These included “Clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones
and sinews” and “our days on earth are but a shadow.” Some titles read like longer sayings or verses of poetry. The titles of the five tracks comprising
Transition are shorter, crisper, perhaps a reflection of how the ceasing noise and clamor surrounding a painful end to this life gives way to something
gentler that needs fewer words to express.

Explaining the overarching narrative behind Transition, Scott says, “Each track has a story behind it and they were written to convey a sense of tears
and heartache that we all have experienced as a result of a great man being taken from us way too soon. We mourn not for him because he is no longer in
pain, but for our loss as we are left behind to live our lives, a little…more.”

With ambient music, it’s best to let the sonic landscape take us on a journey and dictate impressions of the emotions we experience along the way. On “Sacred
Ground,” a 17 minute piece conveying quiet, stillness and reverence, Lawlor uses the organ to transport us not only to church but to the doors of the knowable
yet unknowable realms its human doctrines point to. Lawlor says that his brother’s hospice workers called his home during those final weeks “sacred ground”
– and indeed anyplace on the planet can become that during the time leading to our final transition. Listening to this piece with our eyes closed, and
using it to tap into our own memories, we can contemplate the lives of our own loved ones who have passed even as we connect with Lawlor’s own sense  of
mourning,  discovery and mystery.

The more spiritual among us will connect immediately with the ethereal formless voices they hear in rising chorus at the start of “Whispering Voices” –
a ten minute reflection on a moment when Lawlor’s  mother  was sitting with Joe and heard whispered or muffled voices, which she intuited must be angels
gathering. The track will comfort those among us open-minded enough to who believe in such things. It’s as if they are joining forces around our loved
one’s bed, helping the dying and the living experience a peaceful transition. The improvised atmospheric energy of “Momentary Presence (Featuring wings
of an angel)” ranges from long stretches of intensely bright light and soaring to quieter, gentler passages of moodier reflection.

Lawlor wrote this piece based on a fleeting supernatural encounter as he sat by Joe’s bed one day. He felt a presence, and we can almost visualize the
figure glowing then dimming as the track eases on. The title track “Transition” is a dynamics-rich 27 minute musical essay that defies easy description,
which is natural when one is digging deeper than ever before into our human experience to understand just how souls move from this plane to the next. Lawlor
modulates his synth to create sustained notes full of wonder, murkiness, clarity and peace – for his family and for Joe, who is now part of eternity.

“The Last Goodbye” is the album’s sole piano composition, a moody, thoughtful meditation that showcases Lawlor’s sense of melodic beauty and, for category’s
sake, is more mainstream “new age” than “space ambience.” It’s an emotional, tear-filled farewell that speaks to Joe as if to say it’s okay that he is
now home while addressing his survivors - and telling them it’s okay to mourn for now, but someday there will be a joyous reunion in the other realm. Overall,
Transition is an profound, incredibly insightful work, and hopefully will be an open door to Lawlor’s unique musical universe and its vast musical and spiritual adventures."      

review by Jonathan Widran
www.jwvibe.com

"Transition is the second in a three-part series of ambient albums by keyboardist/composer Scott Lawlor. Composed and recorded between mid-2017 and May 2018, the trilogy began when Lawlor’s younger brother, Joe, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer that had metastasized to several organs of his body. The first album, Look Unto the Heavens, was, in part, about finding the strength to deal with something like this and how, when it is desperately needed, strength can whisper to the surface despite the noise and chaos of everyday life. Transition began when Lawlor received a phone call from his mother telling him that hospice was with Joe and that he wasn’t waking up. Joe passed away about ten days later, and this album “is a tribute to the memory of a great man who was a loving husband, a courageous brother and father who will eternally watch over his two children for all the rest of their days on Earth.” (quoted from Scott Lawlor’s notes about the album.)

Transition consists of five pieces that were composed in a five-day period shortly after Joe’s passing, and each tells its own story. All five were composed “to convey a sense of the tears and heartache that we all have experienced as a result of this great man being taken from us way too soon.” (again quoting Lawlor’s album notes.) The pieces range from just under ten minutes to twenty-seven minutes. Although the music was born out of tragic loss, it is soothing and often ethereal. Where Look Unto the Heavens plays as one long piece, the five pieces on Transition are distinct, each telling of a different experience. It is my sincerest hope that in composing this music, Scott Lawlor was given some of the healing comfort that these albums will undoubtedly give others.

Transition begins with “Sacred Ground,” which was intended to convey the sense of stillness and quiet that was in Joe’s home for the last ten days of his life. The hospice caregivers told the family that Joe was in transition and that the room where he was sleeping was sacred ground. The use of the organ for this piece emphasizes the spirituality of the experience while offering peace and solace. “Whispering Voices” is very ethereal with both male and female choral voices (no lyrics). The piece was inspired by an experience Scott’s mother had while sitting with Joe one night and hearing voices but finding that no one was there. She interpreted this as the angels telling her that they were ready for Joe. The voices are otherworldly and mysterious, but also comforting and quiet. “Momentary Presence” was improvised to convey Scott’s sensing a physical presence as he sat at Joe’s bedside one afternoon. Darkness occasionally weaves in and out of the piece, but there is no fear. The title track represents Scott’s interpretation of the angels calling Joe home to a place with no pain. This twenty-seven minute piece is serene and dreamlike, and makes me think of many paintings of mortals ascending through the clouds to their new heavenly home as beams of light break through the clouds. “The Last Goodbye” expresses Scott’s sadness at bidding his brother farewell for the last time. Performed with a piano sound and lots of reverb, the emotions are very deep and very tangible. About halfway into the piece, lighter shimmering instrumentation enters, beautifully expressing that Joe’s transition is complete and that he is now at peace.

Transition is an amazing and deeply affecting musical journey through one of the most difficult experiences we humans can have. Many thanks to Scott Lawlor for sharing such a personal time in his life with us. Highly recommended!"

Kathy Parsons
MainlyPiano.com