“Understanding the order of time is important to anyone hoping to manifest a dream,” says Valerie June. “There is a time to push, and a time to gently tend the garden.”

Since the release of her 2013 breakout Pushin’ Against A Stone, June has been patiently at work in the garden of song, nurturing seedlings with love and care into the lush bloom that is her stunning new album, The Order Of Time. Some songs grew from seeds planted more than a decade ago, others blossomed overnight when she least expected them to, but every track bears the influence of time. See, time has been on June’s mind a lot lately. It’s the only constant in life, even though it’s constantly changing. It’s the healer of all wounds, the killer of all men. It’s at once infinite and finite, ever flowing with twists and turns and brutal, churning rapids that give way to serene stretches of placid tranquility. Fight against the current and it will knock you flat on your ass. Learn to read it, to speak its language, and it will carry you exactly where you’re meant to be.

Famous for his original music compositions in America, Taiwan-born composer Chien-Tai Chen, aka citynoah, is a celebrity composer living in the States. His major works include Journey to the West (1987 opera, by NSO in Taipei's National Theater; Far Horizon (2004 piano concerto, played 2006 in Kennedy Center Concert Hall by Brian Ganz and maestro Yoel Levi);  and Hakka-Wanderer (2005 violin concerto by Cho-Liang Lin and the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra). He often let his music interweave with ancient, aboriginal, traditional, contemporary, and popular elements.  His intriguing angelic innovations are universally accessible, capturing the essence of internally meaningful and externally passionate music, shown in his symphony entitled City of Wind (2011 premiered by NSO at Taipei for its centennial celebration of ROC).

Chan Eik Kent 毅堅 is following