By Anthony LaBat, Special to The Sybaritic Singer<\/p>\n
How do you begin to talk about an artist like Alexis Ffrench<\/strong>? As someone new to his music, this only got more difficult as time went on, and that\u2019s mostly 1) because I take days worth of notes before penning these, and 2) because there\u2019s so much to share with you now and so little page. <\/span><\/p>\n Alexis Ffrench<\/a> is a UK pianist and has been active in the recording industry since 2006. His newest album, <\/span>Evolution<\/i><\/strong><\/a>, is his debut recording with Sony Music. The album boasts some outstanding collaborators in Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer<\/strong>, a champion of Philip Glass\u2019s music, and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra<\/strong>. With the long-anticipated <\/span>Evolution<\/span><\/i>, Ffrench is able to blend elements of pop, R&B, folk, and classical music.<\/span><\/p>\n Right, getting into it\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Conventional and unconventional, there\u2019s something for everyone on this record.<\/span> \u201cReborn\u201d is the first track on the album and a grand gesture if I\u2019ve ever seen one. It involves a lot of moving parts in the orchestra and feature harp. \u201cExhale\u201d is similar to this in that you can actually hear what a great musical partner he is. The way he\u2019s so involved in the playing of others around him allows him to ebb and flow with them seamlessly. His background in classical music (a graduate of the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London) is apparent here in that he knows how to set an orchestra so that it\u2019s not so overpowering while still carrying some weight. <\/span><\/p>\n Where we start to see Ffrench\u2019s skill as an orchestrator is in \u201cForgiven\u201d. \u201cForgiven\u201d is another cut like the above, featuring the whole orchestra, but in a much more involved way. Rather than having them accompany him, he really takes a moment to bring out the skills of <\/span>their <\/span><\/i>players. Harmonically, this is one of the more magnetic tracks on the album as well. City of Prague<\/strong> are a fantastic group of musicians and it\u2019s always nice when a soloist can take a step back and let the group around them carry the music forward.<\/span><\/p>\n