This week’s New Week New Album article walks us to a particular theme where we should all go in: nostalgia. How many of us do not remember what we did in the past, do in the present, and want, or not, to repeat in the future? Embracing our being and our generations allows us to reflect on what we want for a better world.
And it is on this journey of emotions that we pick up our bags and head straight for the continent furthest from Portugal. From Europe to Oceania, we are just a click away and from there we glimpse, in the middle of the purest air we can find on earth, a peculiar artist who caught our attention through his contagious energy. We are talking about Feralman, an Australian-born artist with a European pedigree from Wales. Hold on tight, because these forty minutes will not have jetlag included in the ticket.
Chapters 35-43 is the artist’s first studio album. It gives us ten chapters in Feralman’s life and the events that marked him between the ages of thirty-five and forty-three, the age at which he finished the process of creating the album. The maturity presented is immaculate, certainly gathered from the most diverse experiences in the music scene over time, and is executed exquisitely in this set of melodies.
It starts with I am DRAGON!. Close your eyes. Remember the best moment your life has ever had. Do not be surprised, but the song is exactly accompanying that moment, that memory. Yes, this is the feeling we all have when receiving this gift: a mixture of emotions. It is the song that gathers the most styles – hence why we consider number 1 a good place to be. A track that is both Country, Folk, or almost any indie genre you can name. But trust us, you will not forget that special moment you have kept in your memory.
Another highlight of the album is the eight-track entitled When All is Almost Lost. This is the first single from the album, and a song with a very striking challenge for the artist, as it was written at a time when he learned he had a tumor in his head. Unsurprisingly, he used the weeks between taking the tests and getting the results to reflect on life and all that he did, all he should have done, and all he still had to do. The beat, with a touch of introspection and tugging at the heartstrings, pulls us over this feeling. And it was since then that he chose to do everything he wanted to do, leaving no path of his imagination unresolved. Thankfully, after the creation of this song, the result came as benign. And those are good news.
Our third highlight from the album is And Then You Were Gone (also the final track). It is time to close your eyes once again. Imagine yourself on a trail to the bottom of your heart. A green heart, heavily populated with nature. The sounds, the air you breathe connect you to the purest of our beautiful planet. And Feralman plays exquisitely with this natural conjugation, where his voice guides us for four minutes. Delicious.
Remembrance should always be present in our daily lives – and Feralman makes a point of reminding us of that for ten stretches of his life. And it is with this line of looking back that we glimpse the future, where the artist will certainly be part of our daily lives, being a bet of the Where The Music Meets team for the rich and inspiring journey that Chapters 35-43 represents.
More on Feralman:
Instagram – Facebook – Youtube – Website – Spotify
Listen to the full album: