Mary Fahl

Fahl released an EP, Lenses of Contact, in early[13] 2000 for Rough Mix Records.[14][15] It featured four songs: "Raging Child", "Paolo", "Meant to Say", and "Redemption";[16] the title of the EP came from a line in "Paolo".[17] The EP contained elements of folk music, rock 'n' roll, and pop. Jeffrey Lesser, a producer/engineer who has previously worked with Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, and The Chieftains, produced the EP.[1][5] She toured to promote the EP backed a by a five piece band of rock musicians.[15] Many of the members of her newly formed backing band later became the band Ollabelle.[18]

Reviews

The EP was released to favorable reviews. Allmusic gave it 4½ out of 5 stars. They compared her to Mitchell and Judy Collins, although noting that she belted more than Mitchell, and concluded, "This promising solo debut demonstrates that Fahl is a very spiritual and moving storyteller in her own right."[17]

In a live review of a Lenses of Contact show, Billboard stated "while her former band was sometimes categorized as new age, progressive, or art rock because of its classical leanings, the solo Fahl has her feet firmly planted in classic rock, pop, and folk terrain."[15]

The New York Press wrote the EP "makes us embarrassed for both the mincing stampede of girl singers on the charts and for Fahl herself, who actually cares enough to sing, literally, from her guts, while daringly carving every phrase into dizzying terrain."[19]

Shortly after 9/11, Fahl auditioned with a compilation of demo material for executives at Sony Classical in New York,[5] including Peter Gelb.[11] She earned an album contract, and after several months working on material in studio, released her first full-length album in winter 2003.[5][20] The Other Side of Time had 14 songs in all (three of which were originally featured on Lenses of Contact). She shares writing credits on 12 of the 14 tracks on album.[21] It was again produced and engineered by Jeffrey Lesser, formerly responsible for her EP.[5] Fahl toured across the country in support of the album's release.[2]

Two songs on the album featured prominently on soundtracks. "Going Home" was written by Fahl[22] to appear in the opening of the Civil War film Gods and Generals.[11] The album's closing track, Fahl's version of the traditional Irish tune "The Dawning of the Day,"[22] was featured in the film version of the Broadway play The Guys, along with several reprises of the song.[4]

Style, themes

Fahl wrote her lyrics to "The Dawning of the Day" to honor firefighters who died in the September 11, 2001, attacks.[9] Ronan Tynan performed the song at the re-opening dedication for the Seven World Trade Center.[23]

The Other Side of Time showed some additional sides to Fahl's style, bringing in opera styles in "Una furtiva lagrima" and Middle Eastern influences in "Ben Aindi Habibi".[24] These two tracks, which Fahl sang in Italian and Mozarabic respectively, were the first non-English language songs to appear on her records. "Ben Aindi Habibi" was a traditional kharja written in the 11th century.[2] Fahl said in an interview that she had discovered "Ben Aindi Habibi" while on tour with October Project and considered it her favorite song on The Other Side of Time.[25] In an interview with Liane Hansen of National Public Radio, Fahl stated that she performed these songs on The Other Side of Time because she was signed to a classical label and a pop label would not have let her make that type of record.[25]

Reviews

Overall, The Other Side of Time met with largely positive reviews. The Salt Lake Tribune gave the Other Side of Time an "A" grade in a review,[21] and Film Score Monthly called her "a brasher, more exciting version of Enya and Sissel" and concluded "Mary Fahl, thankfully, is not your typical pop singer. Somewhat unwieldy, but always interesting. More filmmakers should pay attention to the vocal talent on display in this CD."[26]

A live Boston Globe review from August 2003 stated "Fahl has a voice for the gods. It is a compelling operatic pop instrument that can transport listeners to other realms. Her new album, The Other Side of Time, is a fascinating if sometimes slightly stiff mix of orchestral pop and riveting Celtic stylings a la Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention, with occasional hints of Sinéad O'Connor."[27] A live review from June 13, 2003 show stated the concert "let loose Fahl's deep, almost operatic vocal range. Usually such stylized music doesn't lend itself to variation...Fahl broke free of all stylistic restraints."[14]

A July 2003 review stated that Fahl is "Most certainly an Artist of the highest caliber," and "this is not rock and roll. No dance moves or funky grooves, either. She is unlike any other popular performer today. Her lyrics are deeper and richer, like a Marc Cohn or a less self-involved Joni Mitchell. Her voice is a real treat, though. It is a force of nature, pulling you along as she rages against the heavens in full throttle; or softly, intimately singing to a private part of your soul that only she knew was there."[28]

All-Music Guide praised her past work with October Project and her first solo EP but gave her only 2 out of 5 stars for The Other Side of Time, saying, "She still has the big voice, but she's opting for an easier course of being eclectic by tossing faint nods at different styles while trying to hew firmly to the center of the road."[29][30]

As of September 2006 Fahl completed the recording of From the Dark Side of the Moon, produced by Mark Doyle and David Werner and mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Doyle also provided nearly all of the instrumentation. The album is a song-by-song "re-imagining" of Pink Floyd's classic album The Dark Side of the Moon.[31] Advance copies were not sent out,[32] and the album remained unreleased for several years after V2 Records went out of business right before her release.[3] Fahl self-released the album on May 10, 2011.[33]

Reception

Publication Nippertown referred to the album as "mindblowing,"[33] while The Morton Report called it "brilliant" and "a worthy re-interpretation not to be missed."[34]

Fahl teamed up with producer John Lissauer, who also produced Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," for her fifth full-length album, Love & Gravity, a spare and meditative record about finding love later in life while maintaining a sense of optimism amid chaos.[35]

Mary Fahl recorded this double disc live album on September 7, 2013 in the restored 1882 Mauch Chunk Opera House in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. It was released on October 2, 2014.

In March 2015, Fahl performed as the vocal soloist in the premiere performances of the symphonic overture O For a Muse of Fire by American composer Darryl Kubian.[36] The work was commissioned by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and is based on the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. Kubian composed the piece with Fahl's voice in mind, and the vocal part features select lines from Shakespeare's play.

Reception

The premiere performances was very well received, and met with positive reviews in the press. From Broadway World publication: "The overall composition is dramatic with flurries of vibrant musicality especially among the violins and brass. ... Mary Fahl has a dramatic, beautiful voice. This is a cinematic composition that builds steadily and majestically. One wishes Kubian had fleshed it out more. He will be a composer to keep one's eye on whether he pursues dramatic or cinema scores or continues in a classical venue."[37] From The New Jersey Star Ledger: "As the composer noted in an articulate pre-performance introduction, the music dealt with the conscience of the king, exploring matters earthly and spiritual and taking on sounds of both warfare and contemplation. ... a cinematic fabric with deep lower strings and soaring brass. Dissonant threads in sustained chords and warlike percussion contrasted warm, meditative passages. In an earthy alto, vocalist Mary Fahl sang passages of Shakespeare text and keened wordlessly in the work's more impassioned moments. A waterphone added an otherworldly tinge before a frenetic rise and the pound of battle drums led to a fittingly heroic conclusion."[38]

• October Project, October Project (1993)
• Falling Farther In, October Project (1996)

• Gods & Generals Soundtrack (2003) – "Going Home"
• The Guys: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2003), Sony Classical – "The Dawning of the Day", "My Beautiful, Gleaming...", "What They Were Waiting For", "Patrick"
• Classics for a New Century (2003), Sony Classical – "Una furtiva lagrima"