Under The Stars
Omad, 2023
8/10
The singer-songwriter and guitarist Arwen Lewis is carrying on the musical tradition of her family (her father is Peter Lewis and her grandmother is Loretta Young), where this sonically exciting EP welcomes excellent friends to the 6 diverse tracks.
“Doctor My Eyes”, by Jackson Browne, begins the listen with warm strumming, Austin Beede’s fluid drumming and Jeff Elliott’s soulful brass in the smooth, melodic jazz meets folk climate, and “Winter” follows with a thicker presence of slow, textured rock that’s poetically dense.
“I Think I Understand” and “Man On The Moon” land in the middle, where the former welcomes dreamy guitar amid Lewis’ expressive voice, while the latter burns slow via well timed backing vocals, soft brass and a hypnotic rhythm section.
Close to the end, the very pretty “Black Moon” touches on Americana thanks to the gentle singing and slight twang of her father’s song, and another version of “Winter” exits with graceful piano from Jason Achilles and cello by Angus Cooke complementing the gorgeous singing from Lewis.
Lewis was raised on Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone and Jimi Hendrix, and those influences certainly are present across the eclectic listen, where Jonathan McEuen, George Adrian and Peter Lewis’ guitars help make an ever greater impression.
Travels well with: John DeNicola- She Said; Peter Lewis- Imagination