REVIEW: PAUL SIMON - SEVEN PSALMS

4/5

Simon Psalms.

In the same week that Dave Matthews makes an interview with GQ magazine a matter of life and death, as he and his name band take giants steps for a 'Walk Around The Moon', the man he once helped pay tribute to in the Grammy salute CBS special 'Homeward Bound', Paul Simon, confronts his own mortality. Coming out of what seemed like a retirement after a half-decade (2018's 'In The Blue Light'), the 81-year-old Jersey boy who grew up in Queens gets spiritual with his 'Seven Psalms'. You may Troy McClure know this man from such golden era jukebox hits like 'You Can Call Me Al' (that the DMB man was 'Bound' to cover with his own unique and endearing styling), but this is the most profoundly beautiful piece of music made by the man since the most iconic duo in music history (sorry Chas and Dave), Simon and Garfunkel gave us the powerful 'Sound Of Silence'. 

Simon says, "hello light, my old friend" this time out though as his Psalms keep him closer to the Holy Ghost. For his fifteenth set recorded for Owl and Legacy records it's all Acoustic, accompanied by stirring singing over the strings. It's a seven-part piece (hence, the name of course), intended to be listened to in its entirety for a true spiritual experience before you meet your maker. That's why if you stream it on Spotify this one track plays together for the just over half-hour run time. And trust me, bathed in its Holy waters, you won't want to experience anything else during its meditation. Just like turning the lights off and letting God in. This album shines. Like beautiful Eva Cassidy acoustics walking us through fields of gold. Sure, like Sting releasing albums on lutes about "crumpets roasting by the open-fire", or something to that effect, this might be too much for some Simon fans. But you'll remember it when the west wing blows. Besides, there's not much in this world better than crumpets roasting by the open-fire. 

Although this album is close to the Holy book, the lyrics to go with you as you walk with two footprints in the sand are all from Simon's great American songbook. It's his first original material in almost a decade since 2016's 'Stranger To Stranger', and it's outstanding. From 'Graceland' to the Holy one, he brings trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his beloved wife Edie Brickell to this communion. Together like the two owls perched atop a brand of a tree as the sun goes down on some amazing album artwork by Thomas Moran. It could be the Garden of Eden for the Big Apple singer. One thing is for sure mind, in beautiful bloom this album really does feel like heaven. 

Between 3.00 and 5.30am Simon would wake up with this album on his mind, now like another Paul he's doing 'The Lord's' work from its heaven sent like INXS opening. Writing lyrics as he burnt the oil in his home fire. These seven seals inspired by the Book Of Psalms play classically and cohesively together, but all still stand out in their own individual way, even if they are not separated in structure. Especially the standout track 'Love Is Like A Braid', where Simon sings, "Home, home/Sun on my doorstep/Shocks me to find/I'm a child again еntwined/In your love, in your light/In your cool summer shadе/The garden keeps a rose and a thorn/And once the choice is made/All that's left is/Mending what was torn/Love is like a braid/Love is like a braid."

Weaving the lyrical and the spiritual like plaited hair, this is Simon's 'Harvest'. Acoustics haven't sounded this pure since Neil Young sang under that same moon. Whether it's asking for 'Your Forgiveness', or giving 'My Professional Opinion', Paul Simon brings the beauty, even when dealing with the brutality of modern day apocalypses. Saying that "The Lord is the COVID virus". Are we in for the rapture of a reckoning as Paul prophesizes a 'Trail Of Volcanoes'? "When I was young/I carried my guitar/Down to the crossroads/And over the seas/Now those old roads/Are a trail of volcanoes/Exploding with refugees/It seems to me/We're all walking down/The same road/To wherever it ends", he story tells us. But before we 'Wait' for the seventh seal of the curtain like a new day reprise, Simon plays 'The Sacred Harp'. "The sacred harp/That David played to make his/Songs of praise/We long to hear those strings/That set his heart ablaze", he sings getting closer to him like the glory. Making and Hozier taking us to a church in a studio, embracing us in an extended hand like the arms of God. The Lord's work forever and ever done. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'The Lord', 'Love Is Like A Braid', 'Your Forgiveness'.