Music is emotional. It can soothe and still, uplift and transport the listener to another place, another mood, even another time. Each piece is a journey, something to touch souls and spirits. Music lasts. It satisfies. And those rare qualities are what musician and composer John Adorney achieves with his new album, The Wonder Well (released February 4th on Eversound Records).

“When I play and find a new melody, it feels like I’m unearthing buried treasure, digging in the soil and uncovering it,” he explains. “Sometimes you find something solid and it’s there, absolutely beautiful, a gift. Music is magical, absolutely pure.”

Making music, finding the magic and fixing it in notes and rhythms and the spaces between them, is what Adorney does. His six previous CDs have found fans across the globe. On The Wonder Well, with its deep resonances and soft reverberations, he’s dug deeper to reveal new treasures. And, brought into the light, it sparkles.

Growing up in Connecticut, Adorney began learning cello when he was nine, an instrument that still features heavily in his recordings. But when he was 11 the Beatles hit America and it was a musical tsunami.

“Everyone picked up guitars and learned to play. With frets and chord diagrams guitar seemed easy after the cello. I love pop music, it’s part of me and I’ve never lost that. Even my instrumental pieces still often have verses, chorus and bridges, like a song. And rhythm is important – even the slow pieces have a beat.”

But that classical training, which lasted through college, has given Adorney the vision for his music. Not simply the knowledge of composition and music theory, but “the experience of being in an orchestra. You might be just a small part, but the sound is so much bigger and can be magnificent.”

All those facets together are what make John Adorney’s music unique. There’s the sweep of a symphony to stir the emotions, the catchy, memorable melody of pop music, energetic and joyous. But there’s also a fragile intimacy to touch and soothe the spirit.

And there’s much more inside the mix. He’s an avid student of Indian music, incorporating elements of it into his own work.

“It’s a challenge,” he admits. “Indian music is so deep and rich, with those subtle, sophisticated rhythms, and it’s based on a drone, which is quite different from Western music.”

Drones, the sense of trance and heightened awareness from a beat of groove, is there, the underpinning to electronic tracks like “In Spiritus.”

The instrumental music catches and lifts the listener, but songs bring a different beauty. And they’re a chance for Adorney to renew his musical relationship with Daya, the singer who’s featured on many of his albums. She was originally one of his music students after he moved to California, and he knew immediately that she was blessed with a wonderful voice.

“I love how she sings, that beautiful, pure voice. She can capture the essence of a lyric. And I often layer her voice, four, six or 12 times to create a choir. Daya’s a key element in my music, part of its soul.”

What she brings can be heard fully on “If A Rose Could Speak,” where words and music make an irresistible blend. The song was inspired by Prem Rawat, a renowned speaker on the topic of peace.

“I was listening to him,” Adorney explains, “and he gave an example of what a flower might say to us if it could speak – that the human is the most beautiful, people can sing, dance, cry, and admire. It was a wonderful passage. I wrote the lyrics from the flower’s perspective. The tune on the verses is from “For The Beauty Of The Earth,” a hymn I loved as a child.”

For the music on The Wonder Well, Adorney reached into his own history at times. He went back over all the music he’s written in his life, finding “The Cup And The Veil” in a melody he composed when he was just 16 and finally giving it a home on disc. Two pieces arrived when he took out an old keyboard, all the music stored on floppy discs, and discovered melodies he hadn’t even remembered writing.

Music has power, music heals and touches. From his work as a certified music therapist, John Adorney understands that all too well. He’s experienced what it can do and it’s had an influence on the music he makes, music that’s uplifting and spiritual.

 “The purest musical expression is when you hand an instrument to someone who hasn’t touched it before. Whatever they do with it is a true expression of themselves.”

It can lower inhibitions, as he’d found out working with those who are severely disabled, have developmental disorders and are survivors of abuse.

“With music they can make something meaningful, full of feeling, whether it’s a single note or much more.”

That sense of wonder and its beauty stays at the very center of everything Adorney creates on The Wonder Well. It stands outside any genre, drawing on everything to find an essence.

“I love making music and touching hearts,” he says. “I write music that touches me somehow, and I hope that others will be touched as well.”

On The Wonder Well, he’s created a soundtrack for a life.