Description
The dream-like qualities of Paul Simon‘s 33-minute acoustic meditation Seven Psalms are no accident. The 81-year-old singer-songwriter said both the album’s title and lyrics for the seven songs came to him while he was sleeping. Seven Psalms came together during the past few years as an extended conceptual piece that sounds unlike anything else Simon has recorded over the past six decades.
Seven Psalms doesn’t lack inspiration – or aspiration, for that matter. Designed to be listened to in one uninterrupted half-hour session, the album flows together as a single contemplative piece on spirituality and one man’s struggles with belief. The songs’ late-night origins often come into play: the whispered recitations, the hymn-like softness of the tracks and the gentle echoes from singer and songwriter Edie Brickell, Simon’s wife since 1992.
Staring down his winter years, he finds solace in these folk musings, fingerpicking acoustic guitar over a hushed background ambiance. It’s a long way from the hectic island bustle of “Cecilia” and Graceland‘s polyrhythmic world beat, even when a youthful spark in his voice returns in “Love Is Like a Braid” and “My Professional Opinion.”
