Album of the Week – Evolving by Francesca Prihasti

‘Evolving’ by Francesca Prihasti is Eastside Radio’s Album of the Week.

If you are always on the look out for new music and are keen to see what the next generation of musicians are coming up with, then an album that is full of enjoyable Jazz is ‘Evolving’ by Francesca Prihasti. If you are worried about the future of Jazz sometimes then you can relax as we are greeted with seven tracks of original piano compositions joined with some drums and double bass that brings pleasure to the ears.

This is Francesca Prihasti’s second album following her debut album ‘Night Trip’ in 2014 which she recorded with Marco Panascia on double bass and Ulysses Owens Jr. on the drums. With ‘Evolving’ only being her second album she’s still no stranger to her piano work, as a graduate from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and having shared the stage with several of Australia’s best Jazz musicians, you can hear throughout the record that this lady is very serious and delicate to her work.

The album is a story of a butterfly and it’s transformative life. Given the name ‘Evolving’ we are brought on a musical journey from the shy caterpillar to the fluttering butterfly. The opener on the record is ‘Summer Sky’, where we hear Prihasti work her magic alone, with some slight taps of the drums from time to time until two-thirds of the way in and the guitar, played by Nic Vardanega, joins in, when you realise it was a soft and smooth build up to a joyful arrangement closing out the piece.

A composition that really stands out in the album is ‘The Circle’ it starts of with a nice kick of the drums, played by Orlando Le Fleming, and some fast paced piano work, to lead onto a bluesy guitar solo plucking some high strings to make you want to get up and sway the night away. With the bass, played by Rodney Green, and drums accompanying both the piano and guitar throughout the track it makes for an uplifting listen. The meaning of this piece is that the changing melodies compliment each other in a logical harmonic progression, which signifies all things moving in cycles with each having a place and purpose in this circle of life.

Prihasti’s second album ‘Evolving’ was recorded at Systems Two Recording Studio, Brooklyn New York in September last year. It was engineered by Maxim Ross and mixed by Ross A’Hern of Chapel of Sound, Sydney and mastered by Nate Wood of Kerserboom Mastering, New York. The album turly offers us an array of talent from around the world working on the record.

Mid way through the album we hear the album’s title track  with some lovely matching tones from the piano and bass and with some gentle touches of the snare drum and brushes of the symbols.  Vardanega also does a solo on the guitar until three minutes in Prihasti glides beautifully back in and there is harmony once again among the four instruments.

To finish off the talented album is ‘High Above the City’. As the story of the album is of the caterpillar evolving to the great butterfly it would only be neccesacry to end with a track that is praising the transformation. This song expresses the end result in which strength was gained through struggles, adversity and persistence. As Prihasti’s instrument is the piano she really leaves us with a memorable closing melody, with a solo of her magical fingers doing what she does best.

You don’t have to be a Jazz ‘only’ fan to enjoy this album, with classical tones and relaxing sounds it’s a pleasure to hear Prihastis’s second album. This talented lady is only beginning her journey into the music industry and with such a promising body of work like this, she’s an artist to look out for.