NOVEMBER 2008 ONLINE EDITORIALS

Lilli Lewis - Out from Yonder

By Erik Myers

Inspired by her experiences at Colorado mediation mecca Shambhala Mountain Center, Red Feather Lakes artist Lilli Lewis’ Out from Yonder: Songs, Mirrors and Incantations from Shambhala Land can be best described as a misty early morning meditative of soul and gospel, carefully elegant in melody and rich in vocal harmonies.

“Mountain Lady Woman” is Lewis at her best. Breezy acapella and steady clapping backs soulful allegro as she describes a character of rugged femininity: “I am a mountain lady woman, I got mountain lady feet, they may crack and bleed and burn, but they never yield to heat.” She practices a similar formula for “Warm Like The Waters”, which glows, but to not as great an extent, while her gospel side sparkles on “A New Name.”

On spoken word track “Incantation: Creation”, Lewis’s voice demonstrates motherly beauty as she spins a fairytale yarn about encounters with multiple selves and the fear and confusion they bring. While her poetic delivery could easily fool the unattended listener, the air of reality pours in on the final verse, an ending without typical storybook warmth or clarity.

It’s the only “Incantation” on Yonder that’s worth a second listen, however. Tribal hymns and zen-centric chants between songs attempt worldly finesse but don’t do much other than ebb the flow of the album. While there is some pleasure to be found in hums and colorful chants, the other four “Incantations” sound out of place and have a built-in repetitive nature that sticks to a maddening single-file route, several stale experiences in an otherwise artistic album.