Silence Worth Breaking is so stunning because the album’s title is extraordinarily appropriate. Annibale has a lot to say because she has listened much and learned a lot about life, and whatever wisdom she has to impart is made even more incredible because she shares it as a story instead of giving a sermon. Her vocal restraint is amazing at times, startlingly confident in others and all the while she infuses her performances with unadulterated joy.
On Flags, Brooke Fraser demonstrates that she is not just another in a long line of pop singer-songwriters who get by on their looks and marginal talent. Her observations alone about the human condition cause this collection of songs to rise above the efforts of many of her contemporaries, and her rich vocals combine with the plethora of piano pop rock sounds and sometimes otherworldly accompaniments to make the whole experience even more impressive.
Satriani’s releases have encompassed everything from straight ahead rock ‘n roll to funk, from blues to electronica, from epic jams to blink-and-you-miss-them ditties. Now, well over two decades into his career, Satriani talks about his passion for the music he loves so much and how that fervor has helped make his latest album, Black Swans & Wormhole Wizards, one of his most eclectic—and satisfying—releases in years.
Although I have never spent any considerable length of time in the South, Mike Farris all but assures me that the stories are true: The first question people often ask is “Which church do you attend?” and the second is “Which team do you root for?”’"Because up in the Northeast it’s not that big a deal. But down South? Oh my God, it’s all about your Alabama Crimson Tide fans, and then it’s NASCAR…and they eat, breathe, sleep, and die of loyalty to a jersey, you know? A lot of that—your salvation and who you root for—sometimes goes hand-in-hand. So it’s a different world down here, but it’s my home!”
Andy Hunter’s fourth album, Collide, bears little resemblance to his last album, Colour, and its more traditional song structures. A return to the epic and ethereal rhythms and beats that were found on his first two records—particularly on his debut Exodus—Collide is a thirty-five-plus minute dance party that is tailor-made for the club scene, and it is one hell of a show.
Mike Farris has been to hell and back, and listening to The Night the Cumberland Came Alive is further proof of what salvation—both in the physical and spiritual sense—has done for him.
