Sensational new music from Pauline Frechette this year brings a refreshingly honest set-up to elevate an incredibly imaginative and deeply creative thread of ever-unique songwriting.
When the world seems to be automatically generating everything we consume, the value of human art becomes all the more mesmerising and valuable, and so, in its purity, freedom, and timeless charm; this album is an essential and profoundly rewarding experience.
Produced and arranged by David Campbell, At The Edge Of Everything features the additional talent of legendary bassist Stanley Clarke, in bringing to life the organic unity between Pauline Frechette’s imaginative writing, timeless vocals, and carefully captivating piano.
As a beautiful gateway into this collaborative project, the live performance of The Wonder Of Stars introduces the character and nuance of Pauline Frechette as a fearlessly free songwriter and performer, capturing the essence of this jazz-classical crossover album, and offering a rather perfect balancing of space, intimacy, melody, and passion, as we wander through these images and scenes with the two performers.
While this performance is wonderful, there’s all the more dynamic and intrigue to be found as the album continues. The completed project is just seven songs in full, and the stylish depth and skill of Stanley’s bass playing seems a gorgeous and distinct accompaniment for Pauline’s piano throughout.
The Warrior Returns to Forever: Remembering Chick Corea is a stunning opening track, which begins with a dynamic back and forth between these two instruments, before progressing into a deeply evocative kind of Celtic dance – an adlib evolution of sound and expression, not confined by standard mainstream structures, but gripping in its emotional journey and ambient, inviting, unignorable sense of humanity.
We then get the breathy intimacy and nostalgic smoky jazz vibe of We Can Fly, a certain cinematic optimism at its core, and The Wonder of Stars furthers that brightness, before the hypnotic composition and highlight of The Mariner and the Sky provides something sublimely unignorable.
Taking its time to grace the airwaves around you, the melodies here, the patterns, the rises and falls, the pure emotion found in the instrumental dance, creates an imaginative embrace that holds your attention incredibly well; changing the mood, the mindset, and hitting softly but with lasting, memorable impact.
Unveiled is sensational, too – somewhat cool, stylish backstreet jazz, breathy and revealing, performative in a subtly new way, and an ideal precursor to the story and scenes of Moonlight Magic Show.
Finally, Constellation Jewel Box concludes the experience, with briefly haunting piano cleverly encapsulating a kind of music-box aura from the start, and the imagination flowing freely, as Stanley Clarke and Pauline Frechette masterfully guide us, with the sheer soul and unity of their unrivalled abilities as musicians.
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