Greetings,
If you read my year end posts about music in 2017, you'll know that I was quite unenthusiastic about most of what I heard. So many of the songs I listened to were either bad or samey-sounding or both. Mostly both. All of that makes me sad because I've lived through years, even in my relatively short life, where artists were being very innovative and creative and original. I barely see that anymore. So, when I do come across someone who is unique and good where their music is concerned, I kind of hold onto them for dear life. Such is the case with the person whose YouTube Channel I am discussing today, Karliene.
Karliene is Karliene Reynolds. She is a wonderful singer and songwriter that I discovered a few years ago whilst I was looking for covers of the song "The Last Unicorn". Don't judge me. Anyway, she did a version of it with another great singer, Ashley Serena. The video was actually on Ashley's channel, but, through it, I made my way over to Karliene's channel and started exploring.
The first thing I noticed, of course, was her angelic voice. That may be an overused adjective in some cases, but with her, it's quite accurate. Her voice sounds like no one else I can think of and that is a very good thing. It's powerful yet soothing, strong yet ethereal, all at the same time. That is not easy to do. Another thing that immediately intrigued me was her style. Like many people, she does her share of cover songs, but she also has a lot of original songs. And with all of them, she makes them distinctly here own. They all have a feel to them that's either a bit Celtic or very much sounding like something you'd hear in a fantasy film score or maybe something Medieval. It's a bit hard for me to describe, but you'll understand when you hear it. My point is that she is doing something different. Yes, there may be a few other artists who are similar, but that style is not oversaturated to where I don't want to hear it. We have just enough of this beautiful music and she is making a significant contribution to it.
But I think the one thing that has drawn me into her world and kept me there for so long is the fact that she seems to be able to find inspiration in anything, particularly she finds it in the art of others. I love it when that happens. Actually, it's something that I do a lot myself and am often met with strange looks for it. In fact, when I dedicated a whole section of my first book to poems about a specific film, even I was hesitant about doing it. Karliene, however, has made me see that this is exactly what artists are supposed to do - inspire each other.
Speaking of which, this would be a good time for me to bring up my favorite thing that she has ever done (so far). Back in August of 2017, Karliene released an album of songs all which were inspired by the poem, The Highwayman, written by Alfred Noyes. Amazingly, she wrote seven songs that stemmed from the story of this one poem, and they are all so good. I may have to do a separate review for that. Anyway, there are three main reasons why I love this album so much. First, the music itself is just so incredible and moving, and it paints a beautiful picture of the story through the eyes of a different artist than the one who wrote it originally. Second, it clearly proves that she appreciates poetry, which is something that obviously I appreciate in return. Third, this whole project has inspired me to return to one of my own that I had seemingly abandoned, wherein I was writing songs inspired by my favorite book, The Last Sin Eater. After seeing what was done here, I have decided to get to work on that once again. So, thank you for that very much, Miss Karliene.
Honestly, there are so many reasons why I would tell you to go to this channel to check out this artist. As I said before, she is talented and unique and has a gift that I don't see often anymore. Best of all, she seems like a delight of a person, which makes me want to support her even more so. I want everyone to hear her music, and I wouldn't mind if she got noticed by some musical legends to do some collaborating. I certainly wouldn't mind hearing a duet with her and Tori Amos. I'd love to see that, too, since they both have the most gorgeous red hair. But, seriously, so many people should be lining up to sing alongside her.
In conclusion, if you are looking for some wonderful, creative music, something different from whatever in the world they are playing on the radio these days, I strongly suggest you check out Karliene.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
Karliene-Channel
