phenomeNEWS - This Month's Music Review

This Month's Music Review
by Greg Ozimek

The Breathing of the World
Rob Silvan

THE BREATHING OF THE WORLD
ROB SYLVAN, SKY HOOK MUSIC

Rob Silvan has a way with words, sacred words in verse, his piano and small band accompaniments.

In his The Breathing of the World, an emotive voice musically speaks to us the words of sacred poetry from interactive and inspiring song settings – always enveloping us in the journey... “Am I listening to this music or am I part of it? It’s new, it’s familiar; it feels like home – it’s a new land.”

The Breathing of the World is a rich cultural experience which grandly displays for us the facets and ultimate power of the human voice and poetry – nestled in sound worlds which draw us forward to listen and explore each sonic texture.

Silvan is a pianist-composer whose music includes elements of jazz, Brazilian, classical and other elements not so easily described. He has a long performance and recording history that includes working with notable artists including Randy Brecher, Bobby Watson, Shiram Shiva, Richie Cole and Branford Marsalis.

A simple listening of The Breathing of the World involves us on many levels of experience. Each piece is calling out to be interpreted, to audibly fill a hall with resonance for the visual gilding by a modern dance troupe or easily as the score under a TV scene and certainly as a motion picture sound track.

The CD jacket includes the complete words of each sacred poem.

Rob Silvan has written and performed hundreds of songs for choir and for small groups. Some of his songs are available in a book entitled Beloved Mystery. His previous recordings include: Leaf of Faith, Top Banana, Blues of Another Color, The Eye of the Blackbird, Beneath It All (with flutist John Ragusa) and Quintet.

I wish this single CD, The Breathing of the World, was longer, several CD’s longer!

PARTY DRESS
LYNNEMARIE & THE BOXHOUNDS
SQUEEZE RECORDS

Never say never. Never ever.

And after you enjoy this Party Dress CD you too will have a brand new appreciation, love even, for the...wait for it... it’s coming... you’ll be surprised... yes, the accordion.

You betcha it’s the button box accordion updated to 2007 and beyond!

Momma’s got a squeezebox, daddy’s got a guitar and now all the kids are dancing. Oh yeah!
Jay Leno called her the “Dixie Chick of the Accordion.”

LynnMarie is a four time Grammy nominee and the first and only female to be Grammy nominated for Best Polka Album.

Let’s not think of Party Dress as a Polka album, although it does include an original Texas polka, Polka Till The Cows Come Home, because it is so much more. Think of Party Dress as progressive melodic and highly rhythmic accordion blended, though sometimes shaken not-stirred, with a hot, hip translation of fun, excitement, country pop and rock, with a couple of waltzes thrown in.

This is not your grandfather’s polka music.

Happy Feet, Blue Moon, Stuck In The Middle With You, Is Anybody Going To San Antone are some covers you will recognize but, you know, from now on there’s an accordion melody riffing in your mind for each of them. Then there is LynnMarie’s interpretation of the cover of Pete Townshend’s (The Who) tune Squeezebox which he wrote to be performed by The Who and accompanied by 100 accordion players.

LynnMarie is a formidable talent, don’t let her cover tunes fool you. She sings, plays accordion, writes lyrics and music, along with her guitar playing partner Charlie Kelley, in the other Party Dress tunes.

In the country-rock title tune to Party Dress LynnMare tells us flat out:

“Heads are gonna turn
Hearts are gonna break
Heavens gonna move
And the earth is gonna shake
Listen up girls if you haven’t yet
There’s nothing like the fellin’ that you’re gonna get
When you’re steppin’ out in your little party dress
Nothing like the feeling a good girl gets
When she’s steppin’ out in her pretty little party dress”

LynnMarie is performing at Switzerland’s Interlochen Festival, South By Southwest, in Europe and at National Oktoberfests this year.