"Cliffs" is an album by Pol Arida who can be found performing in Second Life. He's from Edinburgh, Scotland, and he gave me his latest album for a review. I haven't said this previously so I'll go ahead with the review anyway but my preference is to do reviews as there is time to do them as I choose between whether I will be playing or listening to someone else play. I'm happy to do reviews but I would quickly become overwhelmed if I did them by request. Thanks for rolling with me on this!
What you will hear in the album is that Pol Arida is very much a singer and a lyricist as he doesn't seek to impress you with guitar bravado in blazing guitar solos. His statement is in his words but they're backed with a great rhythm, pretty arrangements and a solid production.
I'm not going to analyse the content of the lyrics as that's for you to discover and very much I hear the melody of a song long before I hear the actual words. What comes to me is the feeling within the song and the actual words reinforce that. What comes to me from Pol's work is the exploration in his music. The objective isn't to explore the boundaries of music but rather the boundaries of thought. However, the arrangements are quite lovely and there is great passion in his performance. You will find that particularly in "Get Out of Here" but it's not the only one.
This is entirely original work as Pol doesn't do cover songs and that alone sets it apart. There's nothing at all wrong with doing cover songs but my preference is to hear you. Pol plays multiple instruments to keep his arrangements interesting and to keep drawing you back into the songs. There is great power in "Land of the Free" and it's quite a strong performance but the emphasis, by far, is the content of his lyrics. His singing is quite good and he delivers the lyrics clearly and powerfully but overall he wants you to hear what he is saying rather than trying to impress you. That is impressive, however, as many are lost in New School guitar playing which is unbelievably fast but is also unbelievably lifeless. Pol's work is very much alive and you'll hear that in the power of "Passion."
You can learn a great deal more and find "Cliffs" at Pol Arida's Web site.
Please note, as always, there is no compensation for my reviews, not now or ever. They will mean nothing if I'm paid to write.
What you will hear in the album is that Pol Arida is very much a singer and a lyricist as he doesn't seek to impress you with guitar bravado in blazing guitar solos. His statement is in his words but they're backed with a great rhythm, pretty arrangements and a solid production.
I'm not going to analyse the content of the lyrics as that's for you to discover and very much I hear the melody of a song long before I hear the actual words. What comes to me is the feeling within the song and the actual words reinforce that. What comes to me from Pol's work is the exploration in his music. The objective isn't to explore the boundaries of music but rather the boundaries of thought. However, the arrangements are quite lovely and there is great passion in his performance. You will find that particularly in "Get Out of Here" but it's not the only one.
This is entirely original work as Pol doesn't do cover songs and that alone sets it apart. There's nothing at all wrong with doing cover songs but my preference is to hear you. Pol plays multiple instruments to keep his arrangements interesting and to keep drawing you back into the songs. There is great power in "Land of the Free" and it's quite a strong performance but the emphasis, by far, is the content of his lyrics. His singing is quite good and he delivers the lyrics clearly and powerfully but overall he wants you to hear what he is saying rather than trying to impress you. That is impressive, however, as many are lost in New School guitar playing which is unbelievably fast but is also unbelievably lifeless. Pol's work is very much alive and you'll hear that in the power of "Passion."
You can learn a great deal more and find "Cliffs" at Pol Arida's Web site.
Please note, as always, there is no compensation for my reviews, not now or ever. They will mean nothing if I'm paid to write.
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