Soul Love By Jennifer DeFrayne

 

Soul Love

By

Jennifer DeFrayne

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

It’s been good to have bathed in the musical swimming pool of Jennifer DeFrayne once again. It’s been a few years, in fact since 2017, but she is back with a follow up to that Sisu album and a release called Soul Love. Here we have a journey of eleven beautifully performed and created piano based tracks to enjoy, ones that highlight just what a very good pianist and composer she actually is.

The album starts with the opener and one of several singles on the album called Finding You. This gentle narrative is a very good base for us to enjoy her fluency with; note the winding tones of the fretless bass of Michael Manring on this track as well.

The following tale is another example of De Frayne’s vast skill set and called You and I, another former new single, this idyllic chapter in the album has a colourful tonal delight that is most appealing, and also the added violin of Charlie Bisharat is something to be utterly grateful for.

The Ways We Fall is our next location of timbre, this is a somewhat different tale to be told, but regardless, the almost slow dance like ethic of the track reveals a very strong multi-instrumental flavour, which includes the rare flute of Premik Russell Tubbs.

Then ever onwards we travel, and into the opening arms of the delicacy of reflection called Journey of Love, a track that is simply beautiful and one of my favourites from the album, there is something almost mystical about this particular track that caught my attention, whilst the following story of piano called The Beauty Within is starts at a slower pace, but then opens up with a full flowing tale of joy and happiness, and one that contains the English horn of Jill Haley.

One tentative foot across the borderland we find another of my personal favourites, the deep and fragrant title track Soul Love, here Bisharat stands out and creates a very interesting juxtaposition of tone with De Frayne’s piano, adding in the percussive elements of Jeff Haynes, and you have a very compelling composition indeed, and probably my favourite from the album overall.

The lighter side is now expressed within the piece called Sonoran Blue, Haley joins now on oboe, and with the cello of Eugene Friesen, performs a very charming and light hearted relaxing opus, but one that has a delightfully inspiring melodic nature overall.

We are now firmly in the latter half of the album where we will find the pristine and crystalline textures of a light hearted reverie called Playing in the Snow. This beautiful offering has a wonderful symbiotic partnership playing together, in Bisharat and DeFrayne, who manifest something, quite picturesque and stunningly palpable.

In the deeper weave of the album we find a delightfully down tempo offering of Abby's Gift. Here we find the finest solo piano performance ever with the notes literally imploring you to feel the emotion and colours buried deep inside, this piece on its own is almost like an anthem unto itself, and De Frayne allows the offering breathing space by occasionally pulling back.

Caribbean Sunset is our penultimate offering and this is the third of three singles from the release and is one that contains the vocals from another very well-known pianist in Fiona Joy Hawkins, with soaring flutes and flourishing percussion we are gifted a sunset of beautiful colours by any standard, and one of the most attractive tracks from the release.

The concluding tale is the sweet yet abundant Memories of Them. The charming interplay from piano and violin is lush, it is as track that is reflective and deeply emotive, yet uplifting and beautifully flowing, and of course simply the best way with which to leave the release.

Soul Love by Jennifer DeFrayne is one of the standout piano based albums of 2026 with ease, and it is so good to see her back on the recording trail again. Here is a release that is packed with a plethora of quality multi-instrumentalists including Charlie Bisharat on Violin, Eugene Friesen on Cello, Michael Manring on Fretless Bass, Premik Russell Tubbs on Flutes and Soprano Sax and EWI, with the Oboe and English Horn Of Jill Haley, add to that the Fiddle of Sara Milonovich, the wordless vocals of Fiona Joy Hawkins and the percussion of Jeff Haynes and magic is made, if this album doesn’t make it to number one on the charts, there can be no justice in the world of music, as we leave you with Soul Love by Jennifer DeFrayne.