D. J. Sparr Releases The Tao of Muhammad Ali
- R.A.G.
- 36 minutes ago
- 3 min read
A new release from D.J. Sparr gives off such a wondrous musical approach and journey with pieces and songs that flow together and connect as each one of them displays the musical story and spirit of Muhammad Ali.
The Tao of Muhammad Ali is an incredibly woven record that gives you diversity in approach and songwriting, along with elements of subtlety, delicate vulnerability, understanding, and light.
The record is built upon elements of contemporary cinematic songwriting, and a lot of it has a gorgeous sound.
The very first track, "The Zen of Muhammad Ali" comes in with bells and beautiful pads that fill the space and give you an atmosphere that's built to swim through.
The bells have a delay effect on them and sort of overlap each other, giving this almost dripping effect, and I love how you're able to just soak this one in.
The track itself feels peaceful, as do a lot of the songs on this record, but this is a great introduction to some of what you can expect on the rest of the release.
Tracks like "All Things Vibrate" come through with some of that delicate approach I mentioned earlier, with melodic keys that are widespread and give you depth and layers to look inward.
A lot of this album feels introspective, but again, this is the musical journey of a Legend's life through the eyes of an artist.
"Eleven Ghosts" gives you an example of some of the shorter, almost emotionally backed pieces of music. It feels like a study; a look at someone's life from such a unique perspective that embeds that emotion along for the journey.
Throughout the record, you have other guitar pieces, acoustic, resonators, and this gorgeous, almost deep South folk approach amongst the cinematic and vast songs they sit between.
They kind of serve as little breaks, but they're really not. They're a different form of storytelling, and I feel like the ones that have the vastness in the spacious approaches, the bells and the synths, are the ones that feel more robust and cinematic, drifting and flowing, while the guitar pieces display more of the raw emotion behind the sentiment of the record.
"Great Heart" is an incredibly warm piece of music with acoustic tones and violins that really just hit with such beautiful melodies, bordering on classic Celtic songwriting, and it's got loads of this addictive brightness that you latch onto.
Amazing changes in the progressions flow together throughout this piece of work, and I love how even sounds like this can come through in a cinematic manner.
One of my favorite but very short pieces of music on this record is one called "Illumination".
This is a 42-second piece of work that feels orchestrated with some layers of strings, gorgeous flows, but also piccato plucking that really adds more of that filmic and orchestrated feel to the aesthetic of it.
The end of the record has a reprise of the first track, "The Zen of Muhammad Ali", and this one has louder bells and a clearer sensation, less buried into those layers of pads and softness, clearer, more evident, and a little brighter.
This is an incredible record that really takes you through the emotion and depth of some of the spirituality of a human being that really left a mark in this world
D.J. Sparrs everything on the record from keys to guitars, percussion, synths, and other electronics, and more.
This was definitely a passion project and one that you should not miss, especially if you love cinematic, orchestral, or any kind of music that displays a beautiful level of emotion that you can connect with, especially once you understand the meaning behind the album.
This is absolutely not a record you want to miss and something that comes through with a certain level of experimentation, but also a beautiful balance of melodic overtones that captures the heart of what the record is all about.