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Dark
Album Reviews
October 2009
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Solo Pianist Matthew Tavis Johnson has done it again. With the release of his fourth album, "Dark",
comes a plethora of powerful, creative and emotional melodies that are sure to keep you listening
over and over again. This collection starts off with the gentle "Sakura", wrapping around you like
a warm bedtime lullaby. This warmth quickly dissipates, however, as the raw melancholy of
"For Those Unloved" leaves you with a sense of longing and interminable emptiness. Equally morose
is the somber and aptly named "Blackness". Just when you feel as though you won’t survive the
shedding of another tear, tracks like "Full of Happiness" and "Chasing a Dream" come to the
rescue and adroitly lift your spirits. This incredible juxtaposition of emotions brings you down
only to pull you right back up. Johnson’s uncanny ability to translate music into pure, tangible
nostalgia is simply amazing. I can’t tell you how many times I found myself daydreaming about
days long since gone while listening to this CD.
I also found inspiration in the up-tempo "'Within Bright Colors"; which left me with a feeling of hope and
triumph at its conclusion. "The Joker" bestows a more classical touch to the album while
"To a Faraway Land" will literally sweep you away from the world. "Running through the Dandelions"
and "Incomplete Thoughts" are both beautiful melodies that will grab hold of you for a full three
minutes and never truly let you go. Wanting to make sure there was a little something for everyone,
Johnson included a preview of his lyrical talents, written for his original composition "My Angel",
with the help of up-and-coming vocalist Justin Hyogen Lee. This is a first for Johnson and, in
my opinion, he pulled it off remarkably.
At the pinnacle of your feel-good sensations is arguably one of the best pieces of piano mastery
you will ever hear – “In the Clouds.” If you can only listen to one more song in your life,
make sure it’s this one. It’s artistry like this that makes me so anxious to see what Matthew
Tavis Johnson comes up with next. I invite and encourage you to share the experience I have
had with this incredible album – do yourself a favor and take it home today.
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