It’s an established fact that talent can come from anywhere, at any age. Marla Lewis and her latest single “Blue Horizon” is one of the best examples of this. Lewis, having worked as a teacher for 20 years making songs for educating kids, was lucky enough to appear on the Grammy Winning children’s album “All About Bullies..Big and Small”.
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With some performers who start off in the decidedly younger audience circuit, there’s always wonder if they can pivot to music for an older crowd and Blue Horizon is a wonderful indicator of Lewis’ musical abilities for both young and old alike. Beginning with a breezy drum and Tamborine intro, Lewis posits the question “Wanna fly beyond the blue horizon?”. Her voice is delicate and gentle as the wind and in many ways is shockingly similar to current Carly Simon. This is helped by the kind of retro sound that she’s tapping into. It feels older like the 70s forrays into adult contemporary. It’s an inviting atmosphere that escalates pleasantly over the course of the song. “Lift off’s not easy, you have to hold on tight” she states at one point and it lends this kind of subtly romantic connotation that lingers throughout the song. It’s a slow dance jam, something that I’m sure will no doubt work wonders on a crowd if ever seen live. The production of the song is in a word, elegant.
There’s a real certainty in it that even though for some it might come across as a bit of a “fluff” song, I view it as a love letter to Jazz and the American Standards that Lewis has been an outspoken fan of and has influenced her work for years. It’ll be interesting to see how this song works into the bigger picture of her upcoming album “SONGBOOK”. Big shoutout to her producing partner Bob Stander who’s worked with her on her previous albums “I LOVE TO TALK TO PLANTS” and “WE ALL LAUGH IN THE SAME LANGUAGE”. His work on “Blue Horizon” is utterly exceptional and so much thought and detail was put into the mixing allowing components like the backing vocals that appear relatively early in the song to stand out incredibly well in the inviting and almost haunting ending. For a song so mellow, there’s a lot of busy elements to it. Lewis hits you with so many bending and contorting rhymes before it all stabilizes in the chorus, much like a flight into the titular blue horizon would be.
The biggest issue some may face with it purely lines up with their established music taste, but if you’re someone who’s looking for something gentle, sweet, and yet incredibly textural in its production, I say look no further. It’s tough to say where Lewis will go from here, but if you’re smart you’ll get on board the bandwagon before she transports the rest of us to that beautiful sonic blue horizon. “Blue Horizon” is scheduled for release on August 12th and will be available on most major streaming services.
Garth Thomas
The music of Marla Lweis has been heard all over the world in partnership with the radio plugging services offered by Musik and Film Radio Promotions Division. Learn more https://musikandfilm.com