So sang the operatic voice, a perfectly proportional stream of glowing emerald green. It was the close of a song that blended together both styles as well as colors and shapes to achieve yet another track of brilliant musical fusion.
I’m listening to the new album by Toby Mac titled (portable sounds), and I’m lovin’ every minuet of it.
How I came upon this genius work of art was not spectacular, I was color hunting in the Wal*Mart electronics department when the rainbow colored radio waves caught my eye. I’d heard the popular artist here and there, but never actually stopped to listen to an entire CD before. That, along with the agreeable price tag and Toby Mac’s excellent track record, was enough for me to scan the code and slip $13.94 into the automated checkout line. As I await my change a familiar ad plays in unison across the suspended television screens. I glance up, annoyed. The obnoxious, turquoise piano solo plays again. It’s the third time I’ve heard it in the past forty-four minuets. The slender wave dances as it always does, not missing a single note. *sigh*. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not ugly, the first two, three, ten times I heard it I liked what I saw; but when you see the same twenty-second light blue wave four, five, even six times within an hour every single time you set foot into the store, it gets a little old. It’s like that annoying little cousin twenty-eight times removed that shows up at the family reunion to sing a colorless song or dance a cute jig. Is it funny the first time? Sure. How about when the fame-starved toddler does it sixty-two times throughout the day, making you wish you had sent him away to the cake table? Not so much. This tiny clip of a song is a fame-starved toddler. “That’s why you’re buying this CD,” I tell myself, putting the five dollars change into my wallet. I grab the purchased rainbow and drag my mother from the clothing section. I can hardly wait to see what colors the thin disk holds.
I am pleasantly astonished.
Throughout the series of tracks he summons nearly all of the chromatic colors in varying hues and shades as well as forming amazingly rare shapes. He calls the elusive green like it’s nothing more than yellow, often pairing it with beautiful shades of blue or even red. The colors on this CD are insane. The clarity is stunning, and the richness rivals that of most songs I hear. This is color at it’s purest.
The majority of music is just a colored haze, or a sort of moving blob, which is beautiful, but it’s nice to see something different for a change. (portable sounds) is certainly something different; it takes a special kind of talent to align maroon circles in a semicircle, or make triangles of black static stick to the ceiling of my synesthestic stage. It’s as if most songs are dyed with color, like your shirt or chair upholstery, but these are the natural colors, the originals that inspired others to use them in other ways. It’s so satisfying.
The only colors that didn’t appear were purple and white (which is rarer than an albino red panda; I’ve only seen it three different times in my lifetime).
Color aside, the sound ain’t half bad either and the lyrics are a step above. It’s utterly refreshing to hear something that doesn’t depress, but rather uplifts with sound and libretto.
One of my favorite lines,
“I refuse to believe we’re a dying breed/ Children of peace hope and harmony/ Ordinary folks extraordinary love”
And another one of my favorites,
“I don’t want to gain the whole world and lose my soul/ Don’t wanna walk away let me hear the people say/ But they don’t know that who you are is not what you do”
The mix of rock, hip hop, pop, rap and other styles (even opera on one track) makes this CD quite an interesting encounter. As a Christian, music lover, and synesthete, this album is by far the most enjoyable I’ve experienced in a long time. But even if you’re not any of these, I highly recommend (portable sounds).
This is the type of music you don’t have to be in the mood for, when you turn it on the mood comes to you.
1 comment:
Neato! So is the quality of the music is reflected in the beauty of its color and shape?
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