Pauline Frechette – At The Edge Of Everything Feat. Stanley Clarke

Pauline Frechette – At The Edge Of Everything Feat. Stanley Clarke – Album Review

General question…if my first experience hearing the music Pauline Frechette makes traces all the way back to 2016, but I haven’t technically reviewed her on these pages of ours for about the past five years…can I still say that I’ve been listening to her tunes for a decade?  I’m just checking on the rules…

In any event, you know we always love the return of great talents from our shared music scene when they circle back around to our site and our speakers.  Word on the street is that Pauline’s new album is actually making the rounds for official Grammy-Award consideration!  While I’d love to say that’s some kind of surprise, I don’t think I can quite claim that when she’s always been a world-class talent to me.  I am happy to learn that other folks are hearing that too though…it only seems fair with the amount of time, dedication, and craft she’s put into the course of her career as a professional musician so far.  And here we are, At The Edge Of Everything, featuring the renowned talents of bassist Stanley Clarke no less!  Talk about an award!  Making these kinds of musical memories in this kind of legendary collaboration is a whole level of confirmation unto itself…any hardware that comes along with it would only be a bonus.

For real.  While it’s fair to say I somewhat know to expect a certain level of professionalism and excellence from Pauline, hearing the difference that the addition of Stanley made to her music was noticeable right away as “The Warrior Returns To Forever: Remembering Chick Corea” opened up Frechette’s latest record.  Honestly, it’s simply a brilliant pairing of musicians that genuinely understand the mission and how to go about making songs that reveal a sensory connection between the creators and its consumers.  The curious way that “The Warrior Returns To Forever: Remembering Chick Corea” starts is magnificent…it’s got this whole illusory type of vibe to it…mysterious to a degree I suppose, but more intriguing in a stunningly natural, unforced way.  You want to hear where this song goes, and the masterful way that Clarke’s inspired bass moves beckons the listeners to come along for a journey in sound that is sure to be more than satisfying.  I love how this song is composed to have such a potent contrast between what’s close up and what’s in the distance…you can feel the space in this first track and how it heightens the whole atmosphere of this opening tune.  The vocals are a good fit…they kind of give the moment a more isolated, theatrical element to it…like a single character’s soliloquy in song, and though that’s not normally my kind of jam, I gotta admit, I’m loving what I hear on this.  I think that’s largely in part to how exceptional the avant-garde adventure to get to the vocals is and how that sets up your ears to WANT to accept whatever comes next…so by the time we get to the vocals, we’re already in the mood to be onboard.  Then you’ve got the remarkable way the music takes over after the vocals have finished up, and that might very well go on to reveal the most exquisite instrumentation you’ll find in the entire song.  So basically, “The Warrior Returns To Forever: Remembering Chick Corea” started out great, but it ends even greater – and last I checked, that’s a pretty good way to start up an album.

I would say that the theatrical element of her compositional style helps this second tune very much.  If it weren’t for that, I’d be going further down the whole road of ranting about how ‘flying’ is a theme that is written into pretty much every third song I hear and that it’s never quite representative of what we’re really trying to express, so much as it’s an easy to understand metaphor that plagues modern-day music.  I mean…I’ve written about that too much to feel any other way really, but to be as fair and objective as I can be with respect to “We Can Fly,” this does sound like a much more focused variation on that theme that really does delve into its subject matter more.  As in, it’s not just a line or two in the whole – it’s much more all-encompassing than that…so personally, I think that’s a much better use of that kind of concept and the right way to go about it.  Pauline and Stanley are right up there with the stars, and the cold sound of the piano keys alongside the fascinating sound of the bass make it genuinely feel like you have traveled somewhere far, far away.  I like that!  As I mentioned earlier, the contrast in what you hear closest to you and what seems further away is wonderfully conceived and a very smart way to go about the art of composition.  As much as I felt myself attempting to resist the flight theme at first, I could also feel myself giving in to it here as I spun my way through At The Edge Of Everything this past week or so…Pauline and Stanley are freakishly enchanting and spellbinding to listen to, and this song is no exception to the high standards they’ve put on display in that regard.  “We Can Fly” is a quality cut.

To further the point, the theme of the last song isn’t merely a one-off concept, so much as it’s part of the DNA in this whole record.  Take “The Wonder Of Stars” for example…or “The Mariner And The Sky” to follow as another – we’re way out there in the atmosphere, exploring as we listen.  So I figure, if we gotta fly to get there, then it’s fair game this time around – but to the rest of you songwriters out there, don’t go thinkin’ I’m ready to just let everyone off the hook when they start singing about flights & such.  You gotta be as dedicated as Pauline is, detailing the imagery of the planets & solar system surrounding her through the observational lyricism on “The Wonder Of Stars” if you’re truly going to pull it off successfully.  In one of the most highly performative moments I’ve personally heard from her vocals so far to-date, “The Wonder Of Stars,” you really do tap into that authentic sense of wonder…like what it would be like to view the world, the moon, the stars and all that fun stuff from way out there floating in the darkness of space.  Where you would see something amazing illuminated and shine, that’s what Pauline is singing about, and she’s found excellent ways to make that sure sound beautiful.  The whole underlying freeform type of Jazz at the core of a song like “The Wonder Of Stars” is an important aspect of what we hear as well…basically, the exploratory vibe at the heart of the music is a seamless pairing with a subject like this song has.  As wonderful as any individual component of the instrumentation is on this particular track, I think we’ve gotta hand it to Frechette for being the real star of the show on “The Wonder Of Stars” – her vocals are exceptionally expressive, and you really hear the art in her approach.

It was around the halfway point on the record in listening to “The Mariner And The Sky” that I really felt like I understood why an album like this would be put out into the running for Grammy consideration.  I mean…this is an artistically daring moment in music that shouldn’t be missed; that’s not just my opinion, it’s the objective reality here.  Do I expect everyone out there in the world to ‘get’ a song like “The Mariner And The Sky?”  Heck no!  You’ve gotta have a fairly open mind & a broad musical palette to get your head around a track as adventurous as this one is, and I fully recognize that not every listener comes equipped with the prerequisites you’d need to get the most out of an artistic endeavor such as this.  That being said, from the very get-go of this album, Pauline and Stanley have gone about creating a powerfully intriguing lineup of songs that should still have everyone hooked in and wondering where this all goes…so inserting a cut like “The Mariner And The Sky” actually ends up being an insightful choice to have in the middle of the album.  It’s like they know they’ve put themselves in the right position for the average everyday listeners out there to not only accept what they’re hearing, even as complex as it is, but that they’ve done all the right things to help the listening audience evolve as well.  So for instance, if you aren’t typically a fan of theatrical or instrumental music, this record is largely designed to win you over, and the layout of the lineup is what will help them succeed in that respect.  Basically, you’ve been primed to accept intriguing, daring, and artistic compositions by the time you reach “The Mariner And The Sky,” and as a result of that careful planning, you’ll likely find that you enjoy a song like this a lot more than you might thought you would have on the way into listening to this album.  If they had started out the album with this song, the results would have been totally different.

Stanley really gets his own moment in the spotlight on “Unveiled” – his performance is jaw-dropping to be honest with ya.  He’s got such a master’s grip on feel and tone that it is outright staggering to listen to the man play, and I don’t know that there’s another track on the record that quite rivals the glimpse into his skills & talent that you get on “Unveiled.”  Combined with that…hmm…I’m assuming that’s a muted trumpet in the distance?  I’m not half as well versed about instrumentation or how the sausage gets made as these two masters of their craft would be…so they’d know what you’re listening to better than I could ever explain it on a technical level.  All I ever promise to tell you is what sounds good to me as honestly as I can write it, and “Unveiled” is without a doubt one of the most fascinating cuts in the lineup on At The Edge Of Everything.  From my perspective, the only thing that rivals the first half of this song is the second half of it!  Once again, this collaborative effort starts things out on solid ground to begin with, but finds extraordinary ways of heightening the experience all the way through to the end.  That robust tone of Stanley’s bass and the expressive nature of his musicianship simply can’t be beat to listen to…I absolutely love it.  Credit where credit is due though, the extra instrumentation in this song, aka that trumpet, or trumpet-esque sound, is an essential ingredient to “Unveiled” and a magnificently played part you won’t want to take your ears off of.  When that supporting piano comes in around the 2:30 mark, it’s like they somehow found the cherry to put onto the top of your sundae at that point, and right when you thought this song couldn’t get any better, they seamlessly raised the stakes yet again.  I cannot say enough positive things about the level of creativity & skills on display throughout this album.

There’s great balance in a track like “Moonlight Magic Show,” which might actually be the right way to go about assessing these tunes overall in terms of their own objectives.  As in, perhaps it’s better when our ears recognize the sum total of their talents combined together, as opposed to hearing one of their individual contributions making an impact more than another might.  A compliment is a compliment I suppose…but at the end of the day, you want to hear these two complement each other, and I felt like one of the best combinations of their skills is found on “Moonlight Magic Show.”  I loved the additional stringed instruments in the mix as well, and in fact, there might arguably be more supporting instrumentation on this particular track than you’ll find in the majority of the lineup overall.  It enhances a song like “Moonlight Magic Show” and feels welcome to the ears for sure, but I think they were also wise to not fill too much of the space, which has really been an essential ingredient as to what pulls us in to listen to these compositions as well.  Not that we’re listening for silence specifically of course, but that our ears respond to the clever use of pace and space as sorts of instruments of their own…that kind of insightful stuff can take years to master as proficiently as this pair has done here throughout this album.  They clearly work extremely well together, and you can hear that in the content of this lineup.

While it’s a short album at just over thirty-minutes in total length, I think you have to admire the amount of care and craftsmanship put into the songs on At The Edge Of Everything.  Like a great story, it doesn’t feel like any details have been left out, and there’s been plenty of character driving every moment along the way.  “Constellation Jewel Box” is another intricately inventive and cleverly composed composition that shows how this duo rose to meet any challenge in the instrumentation.  Rather than shy away from the more daring or potentially polarizing moments in the material, they’ve embraced the songs like “Constellation Jewel Box” and “The Mariner And The Sky” with open arms.  Heck, I’d argue that they’re playing with a level of inspiration and spark in their musicianship that might even suggest to your ears that they personally enjoy creating instrumental songs like this just slightly more than the rest.  Which makes sense…they’re both seasoned professionals and veterans of the music scene…being unencumbered by vocal duties only affords their instrumentation more opportunity to speak on its own behalf, and you’ll find it’s more than able to do exactly that.  One of the record’s most undeniable gems, “Constellation Jewel Box” is filled with exquisite and enchanting sound from start to finish, highlighting how accessible instrumental music can be when it moves the mind as much as a song like this does.  The piano is gorgeous and serene when it wants to be, and it’s wildly expressive at other points, aggressive in a way that highlights the evocative nature of the song’s design.  It’s the right way to finish up what’s been an unquestionably excellent experience from start to finish, easily representing some of the very best we’ve heard from Frechette to-date.  Does she have Stanley to thank for that?  I’ll let you be the final judge and jury on that, but it certainly never hurts to have a legendary talent to collaborate with, and the usual effects of that kind of method tends to increase the focus of everyone involved.  No real notes from me here, nor do these two talents need any – they’ve proven throughout the course of At The Edge Of Everything that they’re as compelling and captivating as they’ve ever been.

Find out more about Pauline Frechette from her official website at:  https://www.paulinefrechette.com

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