Carrie Grossman
Each morning I press play for The Ram Sessions, the glorious new CD by Carrie Grossman. It’s a revelatory experience.
The opening chords caress these few phrases: “There’s no salvation for the soul but to fall in love / Only from the heart can you touch the sky” (Rumi). Then “Ram Hare Ram” sweeps us up and away. The journey of the soul has begun. Carrie’s surrendered soul is a pure portal of access to the many feelings and voices that flow through her, which I hear as the seed sounds of true prayer. It’s an encompassing musical vision that includes the deepest place of expression and wholeness. It took this beautiful artist—also a fine writer and teacher—over five years to excavate these vulnerable places in herself, resulting in a mature embodiment of the songs. Every piece provides a magnificent journey, each different yet fully integrated into the ocean of wholeness. Besides all this, the songs swing and sway like the star-filled skies, waving to and fro in the expanding heavens.
Carrie’s voice has blossomed: powerful, innocent, yearning, and always angelic.
There are two standout tracks, “Touch the Sky” and “Thank You,” a profoundly simple take on the Ho’o pono pono prayer, the ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. I was inspired to write to my son after repeatedly listening to this song. Carrie sweeps you into the universal space of Oneness and then comes ever so close, as if to whisper love into your ear. The only possible response is “take me.”
This long-awaited second album, a concept record, immerses the listener in the name of Ram, drawing on a wide range of musical genres and influences. Perfectly placed instruments, rhythms, and supporting voices appear and subside seamlessly. What a superb production! The instrumentation would have to be extraordinary to match Carrie’s voice—it is all that and more. The multihued intricacies of the delicate musical passages are beautifully balanced with vocal touches, male and female, in just the right places.
I have not ever heard a recording that inspires such a full-bodied and disarming response.
Each evening before bed, I return to the stereo and press play for Carrie’s Ram Sessions. The more I listen, the deeper I fall in love and touch the sky. CarrieGMusic.com
—LLOYD BARDE (LLOYDBARDE.COM)