An album release from Shari Tallon brings on a lush soundscape that expands into different and beautiful musical journeys, each with its own vibe, approach, and instrumentation. Listening to this full release is an absolute \escape and it feels amazing to get engulfed in.
The Flow is a record that boasts a diverse and eclectic set of approaches in songwriting and musicianship.
Certain tracks feel classically composed with real piano, and that natural and echoing tone feels warm and welcoming in the strangest of ways.
This is one of my favorite elements of the record as a whole. The simple fact is that a lot of it is natural instrumentation and includes instruments like flutes, piano, guitars, organs, and more.
Shari is the main performer of most of these instruments, aside from the drumming. She is an artist and a songwriter who creates music with fewer boundaries than you may be used to, and I find that completely beautiful.
Listening to the entire record from beginning to end is the only way to go here because no two songs are alike, and listening to the whole record lets you take the full musical journey with her.
The first and title track is a beautiful piano piece that flows into a pop-coated and almost theatrical feel where she utilizes her vocals only towards a certain part of the track, and it works out amazingly because her voice is so smooth and works incredibly well in combination with the textures of the pianos.
This is followed by a track called "The Hidden Life of Trees", which showcases her pop attributes even more. It comes in with a beat and a lot of wonderfully harmonized vocals that flow through the ether of the song, giving it this thick atmosphere.
Then there are songs like "Here I Go" which take beautiful shape in terms of its arrangement and composition but certainly doesn't follow any kind of cookie-cutter style songwriting approach. It is a beautiful and robust track that feels silky and colorful with Gorgeous vocals all over it, including her producer, Chris Birkett, with whom she actually has another project called The Free Spirits.
Chris helped her with this record in terms of the production and some arrangements.
This is an album that will pull you away from whatever you're doing and whisk you into this wonderfully enchanting World.
There's so much allure and enticement involved with this album. It's got lots of surprises around its corners, as I mentioned before. No two songs are alike, and she has such a freedom in her songwriting that by the time you get to the third or fourth track, you begin to expect the unexpected.
This is something that is a rarity in music so when I hear an album that takes this kind of shape and brings this kind of allure, it's very refreshing.
You can tell this is a record that has meaning for her, and it comes through with a beautiful set of textures and layers that give the record an approach and soundscape that you end up holding on to even when the record has ended.
I also enjoy that she puts her instrumentation on the same level as her vocals. The mixes of these songs are absolutely perfect. They are all different but each one is mixed with a certain feel and aesthetic in mind.
I suppose Chris had a lot to do with that part also.
This is an album that will take you on a wondrous musical journey that you want to listen to with headphones on and soak in from start to finish.
Once you're done with that definitely check out some of the releases from The Free Spirits. They have a different vibe but the heart is still there just as it is on this record.
I don't think Shari can make music without heart.
Check all of this out as soon as possible because you certainly won't be let down.
Remember where you heard it first.
SPOTIFY
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