Guitarist and composer Hear The Colors – an artist with a defiantly unique approach to crafting audio soundscapes and other-worldly ventures that grip – delivers a profound and powerful instrumental album this year, with the magnetic and mighty Rebirth.
Two years in the making and a genuine example of artistic immersion, a creative letting the process wholly consume them for as long as it takes, Rebirth is unconfined by genre or expectation, and this is clear from the instant originality of a compelling The Meatus Of Sound, and then, the shift into something completely different, for Rough Ball.
Initially there’s a strong riff, a haunting ambiance, a sense of genre being irrelevant – freestyle playing and rhythmic consistency unite to a degree, and these Spanish-style guitar twangs, the reverb, the looping, the warped bends, all makes for a cool and contemplative original space.
It’s a strong introduction, and quite addictive to listen through, with a near-operatic final fifth to further intensify the weight of this self-confessed exploration of the power of sound itself.
Next we get something of a jazz-like hi-hat array and snappy guitar playing. The Spanish style rings loud again but from a different angle, and the melancholic intensity is once more captivating to let play at volume.
There’s a heavy degree of passion and precision combined to this music, and that’s a rare trait – one that’s impossible to fake. The skill and conviction together let the music carve out its own energising lane, and suddenly the artist name, Hear The Colors, seems the perfect title for this style.
Floating rightfully brings a little lightness and acoustic delicacy, a quickness of strumming but an ambient euphoria regardless alongside, before Ragged Stripes offers a Western-dose of stylish riff-work and hand-rhythms, for a sultry journey through cinematic specifics that are, as ever, impressively original.
Hear The Colors plays guitar masterfully, a key reason for the stylistic appeal and engagement of Rebirth. We hear this again for Trembling, but the atmospheric, cinematic design is just as important – a stormy, thunderous ambiance, a rising key for intensity and anticipation, strings and additional layers all furthering the sense of story and escapism that lets the music transport listeners to somewhere new. This track is fascinating, unsettling but satisfying, and a personal favourite from the album.
The acoustic softness and humility of Sea Shell emerges at the right moment also, in terms of both the scenes and cinematography of the album, and indeed the changing intensity of each piece for essential contrast.
Glassy Grass then lifts the mood, celebrates and awakens, the appeal of the live show from Hear The Colors set in stone by now. Then for a broadly featured Bamboo, we enter the full embrace of the compositional, multi-layered expression and catchy rhythmic power of the project. After which, the quiet contemplation and Tibetan-esque vocal sounds and growing tempo of Soul Scenery hit with superb and unignorable impact.
At the penultimate moment, the guitar playing is complimented by a mild electronic production, but ultimately permitted the space for two parts to dance through an Empty Room, before Fading Scenery brings things to an intriguing and delicate, choir-led and calming vocal finish.
Organic cinematic music, a solo musician with a keen ear for composition and audio development, lets natural ability and work ethic meet with a bold level of evolution and arrangement, throughout the meandering moods and moments of this spectacular instrumental album. In the age of AI rising with unstoppable force, this kind of organic project is a breath of fresh air – not to be missed.
Find Hear The Colors on Instagram, YouTube & the Website.
