"The album kicks off with the song "Like Water, Like Love," providing theme music for an adventure into the depths. The rhythmic thud of Pixley's cello is paired with drums and a violin that sounds tailor-made for a lovely jaunt into the unknown. By the end of the song, the drums are stripped from the track and the jaunting is over; the only thing left is Pixley's haunting hymns and the umph of the string instrument. The journey toward darkness begins."
"Just past the halfway point of the project, the fifth song brings us into peak darkness. And it's beautiful. The track, "A Woman, A Wind," opens with a foot-tapping rhythm as Pixley plays the cello and sings in a gritty tone, "She was walking along the road..." The song literally came to Pixley during a walk, when she had this idea about a person wearing a top hat."
"Pixley, the co-organizer of the Bushwick Book Club Oakland, periodically meets with other local musicians, reads the same book and then writes music inspired by the literature. If so moved, the artists perform their song for an audience. (Pixley, Nikbo and Claire Calderón also co-wrote the song "Mother Told Me," which appears later in the album; it was inspired by the book Women Who Run with the Wolves.)"
Pixley opens the album with "Like Water, Like Love," pairing a rhythmic cello thud with drums and a violin to introduce an adventurous tone that fades into haunting cello and hymnal vocals. The record moves through jazzy, uptempo numbers such as "Gimmie The Juice" and literature-inspired tracks like "Dirty" (James Baldwin) and "Marigold" (Toni Morrison). Collaborative songwriting appears in "Mother Told Me," tied to Women Who Run with the Wolves. The album reaches peak darkness around the fifth track, "A Woman, A Wind," which combines urgent cello rhythms, gritty vocals, and a deceptively delightful melody about learning to let go.
Read at Kqed
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