Erica Papillion-Posey - Better Angels (2019)

The 11 track record boasts 10 original compositions complemented by Papillion-Posey’s own, thought-provoking, introspective lyrics. With each record she continues to evolve, not just as a vocalist but as a noted lyricist, emerging arranger and composer. The three part title track, Better Angels, opens the record with a stand-alone prelude and main theme while the postlude book-ends the whole of the record. The prelude is inspired, in part, by French composer, pianist and conductor, Maurice Ravel’s most famous orchestral work, the “Bolero” which celebrated its 90 year premiere in 2018. The composition marries beautifully to Papillion-Posey’s gift for lyric writing as she asks the question(s), “Where are you? What kind of life is living you? What level of consciousness is doing you? Are you high with your Angels in the Utmost? DO you catch vibes doin’ the Most? Do you skate by in the Almost? Or, do you dwell in the abyss of the Guttermost?” giving way to the overarching theme and title choice of the entire record. Graduating from the Ravel-influenced main theme in the prelude, Papillion-Posey turns what was into what becomes a stellar, new creation of her own theme, still begging the questions, but now accompanied by new lyrical content which gives insight into the psychological platform from which she writes. The momentum of the main theme thrusts us into the almost random intro of the postlude as it morphs into a completely unrecognizable, sometimes cacophonous, fun, rockish, densely textured, free-for-all of sonic melodrama.