The Lonely Sailor
Self-Released, 2019
8/10
An artist and educator who began playing classical piano at the age of 5, while James Fernando has toured with and played on albums with others, The Lonely Sailor is his first solo record.
The title track starts the listen with flowing keys in a classical influenced opener that immediately strikes a chord, and “Untold” follows with a subdued but no less powerful display of Fernando’s timeless and gripping appeal with contemporary melodies.
Moving along, “Ancient Lullaby” glides with a dreamy quality as key acrobatics unfold with incredible skill, while “Trouble Waters” takes on a cinematic quality that’s both tense and melodic while never following predictable patterns.
Closer to the end, “The Last Sunset At Sea” pushes and pulls with charming, dramatic waves of precise beauty, and “Where The Grass Is Greener” exits the listen calm, soothing and with some ambience in the finisher.
Fernando brings a massive amount of talent and experience to the affair, and while his piano is the lone instrument here, his neo-classical, classical and jazz ideas are blended passionately, intimately and playfully so as to never out welcome its stay.
Travels well with: Kayle Brecher- Kayleidoscope; Michael Waldrop- Triangularity