Album Review: Angels and One-Armed Jugglers by Chris Barron

I have had a harder time getting this review posted than makes any sense, probably reinforcing that taking a break is in order.

For now, though, while it is not super new (2017), I have been enjoying listening to Chris Barron's latest, Angels and One-Armed Jugglers.

At one point I had been listening but without getting any writing done; I was going to scrap the review. However, this passage of music kept coming back to me, a refrain that was a positive in the face of darkness. This persistent phrase was from track 8, "Still a Beautiful World".

It is still a beautiful world -- despite many un-beautiful things in it -- and it is important to remember that.

So this is not the most timely review, with the album being three years old, but the trajectory makes it perfect.

I first reviewed Chris Barron in 2015, and I already knew about a case he'd had of vocal cord paralysis then. This album was being worked on then, and delayed, and then expanded. It was released after the inauguration of the current president, following a dark turn. I am listening to it now at a time of fear and dread and illness that the previous dark turns have not left us well-prepared for. And I was doing album reviews because I find I don't have the time and concentration to review larger bodies of work (and now I don't even think I can review a;bums).

All of those themes of being blocked, and working around then finding new obstacles... it's here, and without shying away from that, there is still hope and comfort within.

It's a good reminder that we need music, and paying attention to it matters, even when it's hard, and even when it is easy to feel insignificant.

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Related posts:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2015/12/band-review-chris-barron.html