Brian Michael Tracy takes listeners on a three act performance in his latest release The Mystical Prism of Being.
Writer and musician Brian Michael Tracy’s latest release, The Mystical Prism of Being, invites us into a soundscape of emotion, desire, and repentance through a sonic filter that merges Tracy’s mystical poetry as spoken word performance with classic rock ballad covers, sung in the original lyrics, as a medley, flowing in and out of one another. The album consists of three tracks presented as ‘acts’, each an average of 15 minutes. The first act, titled “A Virgin Birth,” is ripe with sexual metaphor and vivid description of the fluids that accompany human birth. It is set to Sting’s “Sister Moon” and Van Morrison’s “Inarticulate Speech of the Heart.”
The second act, titled “Our Last Supper,” explores the emotions that accompany inevitable loss. Tracy interweaves the completion of a romance with the image of death – at the burial grounds – set to Leonard Cohen’s “Alexandra Leaving” and Robbie Robertson’s “Fallen Angel.”
The final act, appropriately titled “Ascension,” invokes the process of a soul making peace with the eternal All-That-Is. Beautiful and mystical, it promises a life renewed, reborn in new skin. Natalie Merchant’s “The Gulf of Araby,” Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain of Sand,” and The Grateful Dead’s “Brokedown Palace” complete the sonic journey.
Tracy’s musical team includes Springsteen’s collaborator Marty Rifkin and South Bay musicians Andy Hill and Renee Safier. Set to release on Good Friday, this album is appropriate for casual listening, an end-of-yoga-class savasana, or a lazy Sunday afternoon.
(Brian Michael Tracy/CD Baby)
Reviewed by Aria Morgan, a writer, yoga teacher, and birth coach who loves handstands and kombucha: ariamorgan.com
Aria Morgan is a yoga teacher, doula and music lover who finds inspiration in nature: ariamorgan.com.