Fire and Earth is the latest LP from Joseph Allred and we’ve got the album’s streaming premiere for you here on Impose. A profoundly evocative work, Fire and Earth would undoubtedly serve as a perfect wintry soundtrack to any seasonal activities as it casts its grand shadows and glittering warmth against a stark, snowy landscape. An album made up almost entirely of instrumentals, Fire and Earth still manages to convey a number of emotions, moments, and stories.
With a classic and eclectic style all his own, Joseph Allred has crafted songs with shimmering bronze 12 strings and bowed tones that spark and glow like amber in the darkness. “Song for Spring” is a stirring, rumbling number that shakes off the snow and cold of “A Waltz for Winter”, a piece with rattling, trilling strings that recall icy winds and landscapes. “Leitmotif” sounds like a pastoral bit of Americana with rolling melodies like hills trundling along towards the horizon.
“Song for the River” has rich, silvery tones that ebb and flow as the course along through the song. “Useless Air” is the only track that features vocals earnestly intoning over droning accordion-like tones that also make up the meditative “Musica Humana”. “Siegfried’s Dream” is ancient and exotic, a hypnotic rustling melodic wind that swirls around the listener at times as it pulls and pushes towards the unknown. The song is representative of the album as a whole as it is equally as familiar as it is unheard of and as comforting as it is inspiring.
Fire and Earth is available now on Scissortail Records . You can find out more information on Joseph Allred and other Scissortail Records artists by following the label on Facebook, Twitter, and SoundCloud.
