A Year of Sundays By Sandi Kimmel

 

A Year of Sundays

By

Sandi Kimmel

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

This certainly makes a nice change for me, to dip my toes into the singer songwriter and folk genre, this new album from Sandi Kimmel is a refreshing new release that touches the heart and offers hope, and offers magical songs with uplifting lyrical reminders, it is an album that can be described as a cathartic journey of global oneness, peace, happiness and tranquillity, and all wrapped up nicely on an album called A Year Of Sunday’s.

The opening to this grand album is called 10,000 Dreams, a song that reminds us that we can still dream as much as we want, and those dreams can be as healing and as peace filled as we wish. The piano and percussion add to this composition a layer that could well be an anthem at a concert, it’s a superb start from the artist.

Time to strum a few chords and bring a sublime new track to fruition called In Between The Cracks, then add a lyric that reminds us who we really are and you have a winner of a song, the pace and style of this specific manifestation reminded me of Scotland’s very own De Amitri, and if a single were to be released from this album I would point to this one, the time signature, melody and hook are simply perfect, this is New Age pop at its very best.

This next piece is classic singer songwriter material and called Cycles within Cycles. The lyrics teach about the circular nature of life, its rich patterns and the roller coaster rides along the way. The guitar is sublimely fluent and reminds me of artists like Ralph McTell, and the gentle addition of a flute in the background to this piece was a clever choice too.

So I Sing eases us further into this album and its nature teaches us not to forget to dance, sing and be creative, please note the inclusion of brass and a slight Jazz styled guitar here, one that elevates into a light rock piece, in the most anthem of ways, this has to be one of the most complex pieces from the album and easily the most fascinating.

This next song is one of the most emotive from the album and called The Last Mile. Whilst that folk ethic is still there, a sense of country is also entwined within the structure of this song as well. The lyric is simply brilliant and highlights the heart felt truth of unconditional love right up and until the end of time. Kimmel’s vocals on this track are both reassuring, but also quite impressive in tone and harmonics.

The half way marker of the album is nearly reached by breaching this point of the album, and we find a powerful song called Storm before the Calm, the ongoing and quite literally true mantra of we are one is continued, and of course when one thing is destroyed, something new grows, and opportunities are abundant, there is a light rock element to this track that I loved, and the chorus is one of the most commanding I have heard for quite a while.

Now time for a song about one of my favourite subjects, New Moon, the moon has always been a fascination for me, and there is something about this song that is so attractive, Kimmel’s guitar work here is some of the best from the album, and the intentions of the moons that we hear are yet again opportunities to be taken or not, a galactic calendar perhaps.

The reflective, but quite brilliant Grief Is Having Her Way with Me is up next. Zeus knows I have suffered in the last few years more grief that I thought imaginable, here is perhaps the soundtrack for those times, but here is one of my personal favourite tracks from the album, the minor chords used on this piece are so colourful and textured, when we add string segments, percussion and piano into the mix, magic is created.

Time to go down to the crossroads, no not the ones sang about by Robert Johnson in 1937, but the opening lyric to this new composition of thoughtfulness and consideration entitled The Journey Is The Destination. For some reason this song reminds me of Dylan’s Knockin On Heavens Door in its main lyric, but changes to a more upbeat piece within its chorus.

Time can even be found for a little dedication in Sienna's Song, a smooth onward song that is as fresh as a new born day, the piano on this piece was utterly majestic, whilst the gentle refrain was most welcome, and one that led us nicely into the following offering Analog Girl.

We could have a couple of hit singles on our hands from this album; this song is another, a humorous look at online life. Whilst this song sounds nothing like it, the tone, subject matter, and the frustration of having to comply in this highly digitised world, was touched by non-other that prog rock giants Barclay James Harvest and their song In Wonderland, a song about a girl and her fascinations to phones and the internet. However on Analog Girl I wonder how many listeners will stand up and totally agree with the artist here, most people over the age of 50 for certain!

The Sweetest Form is our penultimate song from this quite crafted album, another beautiful number can be found here, but also musically this is a delight. A superb change of tone can also be found on this creation, one that carries the composition from the main lyric into the chorus in an almost seamless way, and for me this is one of my personal favourites from the album and yes, there are many to choose from.

The penultimate piece is called Nothing Better, a song we can all sing along to if you so wish. The beauty of this track is its simplicity, all you really need is a guitar and you could perform this last piece on the street if desired!

We now round up with a great anthem like ending to what has been an ourstanding release, with our concluding arrangement called The Cure, It is like the artist has taken us full circle, except now, we have opportunities and experiences to make those all important changes, and what a perfect way with which to sum up the album.

A Year of Sundays by Sandi Kimmel is a bright kiss of musical light in a darkened room; this is an album that has it all, it entertains and uplifts the listener, it contains some wonderfully performed presentations, and is lyrically crafted, an extremely intelligent and thoughtful release. If you are a fan of the sing songwriter genre, then you are going to be on to an absolute winner of an album here with, A Year of Sundays by Sandi Kimmel.