Once in a great while the planets align, the moon will eclipse, and a great album will be released. Musical masterpieces are few and far between in all genres of music. Joel Styzens has released a jazz album called Relax Your Ears that is mellow, relaxing, and an absolute delight to listen to.
The entire compilation is instrumentals performances by stringed instruments. Joel Styzens is surrounded by musicians of a very high caliber. Cellist Katinka Kliejn is featured on the CD from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her involvement with this music is a very sweet collaboration.
The opening song “A Sharp” has a mild contrast between acoustic guitar and cello which has a feeling that this musical piece is from the heavens. There is a crispy sound on the acoustic strings as the fingers of a master caress the steel in a beautiful graceful way. Accompaniment by the cello is dark smooth and gently pampers your ears.
“As You Are” has a nice mellow shuffle that is snappy and bouncy. Evenly flowed chord strums on the acoustic are blended nicely within the song as it is interwoven with other strings. This is a very nice ditty to kick back and get lost in the moment.
“For You” opens up with bongos evolving into a nice jazzy piece. Slow single chord strums from the guitar come in and start working their way into your musical soul. Nothing more can be said about the song other than WOW!!
All the songs within this album are wonderful to hear. Songs like “Lifeline” which opens up with harmonics being played on the acoustic guitar and “Unaware” with its haunting cello. The songs blend together and paint a relaxing scene of musical notes within your mind as they rise and fall within the musical patterns. Songs like this are referred to as ‘onion songs’ meaning they are so beautiful they make you cry.
Turn the lights low, take a deep breath, and listen to the beautiful music that has been created. Close your eyes and open your ears while becoming one with the instrumental interludes that have been composed for your listening pleasure by Joel Styzens. Doctor’s should be prescribing this album to help lower blood pressure instead of medicines. The soothing music that can be heard will easily drop your blood pressure ten points on both numbers. Relax your ears and enjoy.
