Harbors (Hollie Kenniff & Goldmund) - When We Are Free

A Closer Listen

The music is calm, the cover is calm, the effect is calm. After releasing four singles over the course of spring, Harbors (Hollie Kenniff & Goldmund) is releasing When We Are Free in the heart of summer.  But from what does one yearn to be freed?  The answers may vary from person to person, from the physical to the emotional.  Having unveiled the stellar For LA project earlier this year, the Kenniffs are keenly aware of the threats posed by prejudice, callous government and fire.  Their music – whether solo or duo – has always promoted peace, but has seldom been so intentional. The liner notes suggest the music as the backdrop to everyday activities, while promoting the practice of mindfulness; and the moniker implies safe harbors. Nothing will hurt you here.

At first the music approaches in soft waves: pads swirling and undulating, piano notes placed like rocks in a Zen garden.  As the album develops, it adds more specificity, the piano seeping into the foreground of “A Portrait of Time” while the processed voices rise and fall.  “Indigo” is one of the strongest new pieces here, redolent of the skies at dusk, but also of the time it takes to enjoy the skies, to cast more than a passing glance.  The unstated sub-theme is the rejuvenating power of nature, which not only calls to be noticed, but to be preserved.

“Arranged Shapes” exudes the comfort of a sound bath.  One thinks again of that rock garden, but also of the way in which one may arrange one’s thoughts, giving positions of honor to charitable and generous imaginings.  The title of “In All Things” is also the opening phrase of a well-known passage: In all things God works for good, while obliquely referencing another: Give thanks in all circumstances.  One need not subscribe to a particular religious belief to recognize the value of such statements.  The Kenniffs are seeing all things, the good and the bad, but gently suggesting where one might look, or to which sounds one might incline the ear, in order to find calm.

To quote another (non-Biblical) phrase, a ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for. Harbors invites listeners to dock for half an hour, to gain a sense of peace, and to gather the strength for the next journey, whether the crossing of an ocean or the distance between two people.  The title is a confident statement: we shall all be free someday.  (Richard Allen)