Album Review of
The Bridge

Written by Robert Silverstein
December 25, 2019 - 5:23pm EST
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Renowned for her recent recorded works with New Age composer Paul Adams—including the 2019 album release of their second joint venture Deeper Imaginings—Australian musician Elizabeth Geyer is actually a triple threat artist in her own right. With several solo albums to her credit, Elizabeth’s 2016 album, The Bridge is an overlooked gem of an album that is just being rediscovered now by newcomers that found her music by way of the Deeper Imaginings album. Recorded and produced by Elizabeth Geyer and Paul Adams, the 13-track album was actually inspired by her traveling to Illinois, where she and Paul crafted the The Bridge. Compared to Elizabeth’s and Paul’s recent album, the all-instrumental New Age Deeper Imaginings, Elizabeth’s most recent solo album, The Bridge is an unusual sounding album that mixes jazzy pop melodies and arrangements with a unique singer-songwriter approach highlighting her vocals, songs, flugelhorn and piano work. For his part, Paul adds in guitar and a range of instruments he’s famous for as well as having mixed and mastered The Bridge as well. Musically, The Bridge is as far away as possible from being your traditional sounding jazz or pop album. Before his untimely passing, Elizabeth's music was praised by Bruce Lundvall, the great jazz maven and latter day period head of Blue Note records. Paul Adams has compared her voice to pop artists like Natalie Merchant,  Nora Jones and Sarah McLachlan, while to these ears The Bridge sounds very influenced by pop composer Laura Nyro. Another sonic signpost worth noting, Elizabeth’s train of thought vocals and her way with mixing words and music is not as far away as you might think from the overlooked late 1960s orchestral pop albums by the late 1960’s protest singer Phil Ochs, such as Rehearsals For Retirement and Pleasures Of The Harbor. A modern day music classic worth hearing, Elizabeth Geyer's The Bridge is an artful merger of pop and jazz that makes for a very rewarding listening experience.