Shimmer by Amethyste
A review by Jef Peace
Senior Partner
PeaceWork Music Net
Album: Shimmer
Artist: Amethyste
Track List: (titles appearing as links have an audio preview, click on the title to listen)
Desir D'Amour
Blood from a Rose
Eternal Beauty
That Loving Feeling
I Let you Go
Entre Ciel et Mer
Far Away From You
Tender Abandon
Secret Surrender
Stay
Into the Blue
Wandering Flame
Always Running
I Remember
I want to start this review by saying it was both a pleasure and an honor to review what I consider to be a landmark album in the new age genre.
The album starts out with a single, slowly swelling note that gradually builds into a melody of haunting beauty. Vocals softly invade the canvass without words ... just gentle "ahs" weaving in and out of the growing melody. Once your body is relaxed and your mind beginning to drift to the seashore, a cello gently leads you into the next song and now you get to hear just how amazing the vocalist is.
This album is rife with hints and nods to various musical styles from both East and West but is a style all its own. A monumental statement of passion: restrained passion, unbound passion, internal passion, shared passion ... a celebration of life and in its totality a beautifully-stated and quite valid contemporary commentary on the state of humanity and the world it has invaded. While one gets the sense that this is a personal commentary, its message can be felt intrinsically by anyone who has breathed the air of this earth and walked upon its soil.
I can't say enough good about the vocals. Amethyste not only has an amazing vocal quality, but her control is nothing short of amazing. She weaves complicated and delicate melodies that traverse the entire canvas of the songs with a grace and beauty and comfort I can not compare to any singer I've heard to date because I honestly believe she's in a league all her own and at least a step above all others.
The musicianship is excellent also. Precise and rife with the same restrained passion that makes this album such a landmark body of work. Various instruments weave in and out of the melodies making the already beautiful canvas vibrant with splashes of extra color.
If I were asked to remix this album I would have to decline ... it is not possible to improve a single miniscule aspect of this perfection and to even attempt it would be a travesty.
Someone should let the new age genre know a new mark has been set.
To purchase this album, click here.