Singer-songwriter Meli Levi has recently returned to music after a transformative 5-year hiatus away, studying meditation-based healing techniques with a master full-time. Today, she writes with a reverence for the transformative capabilities of music. “A song can recall a powerful memory or inspire someone to forgive a person they’ve been upset at—music has that power—and I try to be aware of what I put out in the world with my songs,” she says.
Her latest release, the EP All Things May Be, is a warmly emotive patchwork of memories and moments. Meli produced the five-song collection at Boxer Lodge Studios in Napa, CA. This will be Meli’s follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut EP, Crowned, which was co-produced with Grammy Award winner Isha Erskine. Prior to her solo career, Meli lived in Seattle for a decade where she played in the band Seeing Blind.
Meli’s aesthetic has been best described as a mix of folk-rock and alt-rock with a splash of blues. Lyrically and conceptually, her songs are informed by her complex familial relationships, her healing from alcohol and substance abuse, her experiences as a meditator and her own journey in the music biz. “I am at a point where I see a lot of males in the industry and, as a queer female, I want to be the change I see, and hear, in the world,” she says.
All Things May Be is a crisply-produced EP with an organic band-playing-in-the-room sensibility. Shining throughout are Meli’s richly expressive vocals, her imaginative arrangements, her thoughtful production approach to layering and orchestration, and her accomplished electric and acoustic guitar playing.
Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of the video for the single “Echo In A Valley” (PRE-ORDER) a thoughtfully arranged, alt-rock song that unfolds almost like a classical composition with a triumphant ending. Speaking to a seismic shift in her life that found her coming off of a massive transition from years of alcohol and drug use and a relationship breakup, into years of meditation practices, the song finds her expressive, emotionally-stirring vocals taking the spotlight as she lays out poignant lyrics that feel deeply personal. Bridging indie folk with a pop sensibility, the song manages to be highly infectious even with its heavy material. Lush strings and warm harmonies give the song a sense of urgent power that allows it to connect on an almost spiritual level.
Meli describes the inspiration behind the song:
I was just coming off of a massive transition from years of alcohol and drug use and a relationship breakup, into years of full-time meditation practices in the high mountain desert of California. During that time, I got clean and went on a pretty massive life journey. Echo in a Valley is an intricate patchwork of memories woven together in order to capture both the deep challenge and the elegant magic of choosing to let go of my old life and throw myself into the mystical unknown. Of having the courage
to leave everything else behind so I that I could move forward into myself. This song was inspired by the choices we make in these type of “crossroads” moments that can change our destiny.
WATCH:
