When music meets emotion, the results are unpredictable. It can generate serene melodies, face-melting power, or a groove that accents a juxtaposition. For The Muse Frequency the result is their latest album release, “Diary of an Artist in Love.” The spoken-word album plays with a meditative aesthetic that’s firmly rooted in the complex musings what love is.
This idea leads directly into the first track, “Love Is, I.” The ethereal quality of the track is felt immediately, with a soft, ambient flow backing the soft poetry that flows with it. The soothing aesthetic will take you by surprise if you aren’t prepared for it, but will grip you instantly nonetheless with an incredibly gentle musical embrace. The sound in the background is the perfect undertone when lines such as “love is a disappearing act” and “love is an altar of worship” are being recited. “Love Is, I” creates a serene environment that is instantly calming that allows the listener to focus on the words with clarity of mind.
“We Start Here” follows it up and illustrates the flow of the album. The low synths are soon flanked by another sound that inspires a rising illumination. The poetry is warm and contemplative, with words that dwell on your mind from the first listen. Musings of the alpha and omega, the nature of love as a feeling and what it means to “begin” and “end” to the artist. Lines such as “you are a story I tell myself, you are the loneliness I fight, and the rush of love running through my veins” are profound and describe the complexities of the feelings that the emotion of love inspires. “We Start Here” is a track that inspires multiple listens, with subtle sonic surprises and a deep emotional core to the lyrical poetry that entices the listener to think deeper about its metaphorical weight.
“Stay With Me” is another stand-out track. The soft guitar strums accent the deep, rising synths before the poetry begins. The smoothing out of their dance is almost unnoticeable underneath the vocals, whose reverberations echo off the synths like a force off of a wall. “Stay With Me” is a powerful, sensual track with engaging verses that lure the mind to an intimate place. From the beginning, the vocals disarm with the line “I don’t always like to know in advance, sometimes I simply want to follow a feeling. Tonight, you are my feeling.” The delivery’s soft caress creates an enticing aesthetic that’s impossible to ignore. Other lines such as “the dying light is having a love affair with you tonight, finding your curves in the hollows” illustrate the sensual nature of the track. “Stay With Me” is a stand-out track due to its sheer emotional power and how vulnerable it can make the listener on a first play. This is especially true if you are listening to the album as a meditation practice, as it is intended.
“Diary of an Artist in Love” is a profoundly moving listening experience. From start to finish, the way each track gives the listener a point of focus allows one to easily become absorbed by the sounds that create a mentally-dominating atmosphere. It allows the album to take your mind into a deep, emotionally vulnerable state of mind that is as harrowing as it is uplifting. Each part of “Love Is” is worth experiencing, as are tracks such as “Stay With Me,” but after listening to the album as a whole, repeat listens out of sequence don’t feel like they allow the tracks to carry the same powerful feeling that a listen through the entire album could. While this album definitely isn’t for everyone, there isn’t a person that I wouldn’t recommend it to.
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