If you’re reading this, chances are that you live in a large city, own a fancy computer and mobile phone, and drive yourself to work through the busy traffic. You’ve probably also been told that this is the only way to live. But you don’t really believe that. Jared Gentile doesn’t either. The album titled “Green” is an attempt at mending a broken heart through the use of nature as a guide and healer.
Album opener “Sing (Your Voice The Color Green)” starts off the daydream. You’re encouraged to close your eyes and make believe you are in the middle of a lush forest. Gentile’s voice will guide you.
The arrangement of “Sing” is notable. This is not mere indie-folk rambling. It’s ambitious work that provides a deep psychedelic effect. The playing recalls 60s pop-rock. The vocals are quirky and shift from one idea to another easily. It resembles The Mothers of Invention, had their juvenile humour not gotten in the way of the music.
“River Mouth” is led by sweetly picked acoustic guitar lines and cello. “Horses” introduces slide guitar and electric guitar volume swells. “Trees” is decorated by airy horn lines.
Clearly, this is the work of great ambition and not your random meditation on the benefits of living your life out in nature. If anything, this is a love letter and written with the hopefulness and despair of a would-be lover.
One of the album’s finest tracks comes toward the end of the record. “My Flock & I” echoes early Van Morrison. It’s a song that aims for transcendence of sorts, as Gentile lets the vocals soar through a soft falsetto voice.
Jared Gentile’s “Green” shouldn’t exactly have you manically trying to sell the laptop, the phone and the car. But it could be your musical accompaniment when you venture outside of your busy cities and might even assist you in glancing at beauty in a different way.
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