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In an age where even the space of thought is at risk, where speaking is held over listening, Alanis Morissette submits a bold, beautiful, musical mind-zone of an album. Her release the storm before the calm (106'38") hopes to challenge stories that are false with better stories - stories in which people want to live. These eleven starlit works mean to reach out and touch the night, yet go much further - extending well into the hearts and minds of all those who will lend an ear. Morissette brings to this adventure a background in popular music, which has been switched off to accommodate the more languorous compositional arc and open-ended, multi-instrumental soft jams that populate the storm before the calm. Joined in this project by several other musicians, along with Morissette's wordless vocals and feeling flute we will notice an intelligent mix of processed guitars, seductive percussion, spacey organs, ambient synths, gentle piano, dreamy vibes, subtle electronics and a host of other exotic instruments - painstakingly combined into a substantial sustaining sphere of sound. Serenely sweet sonics travel so deliberately that our awareness of time seems to stretch. In measured motion each track builds. With long chords emerging out of an aura of reverberation we may imagine a vast expanse. Entrancing abstraction yields to a stream of transformations, with optimism and artistry fully present throughout every moment. While contrasting tones are carefully arranged to direct attention inward, the sections of higher energy attract the front edge of our senses. These expressively played strong moments give way to passages of slow burning brightness, and an argument for the future becomes clear. For those who feel like ghosts wandering a world that has grown alien, the storm before the calm will make sense. We listen to Morissette's moving music, but hear her message. Lit by tomorrow's sun, she tells of life under a different light - and an age of calm where every existence knows meaning and truth.
Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END - 15 September 2022 |
