Karen Grace may not aspire to become a one-woman Beatles or Beach Boys, but much like those two iconic rock bands, this singer/songwriter has just created a concept album. Metamorphosis is mainly a project that concerns significant life changes, conceptually speaking. A familiar natural example of the way caterpillars transform themselves into butterflies is used lyrically in order to picturesquely illustrate how positive human changes are possible – simply because they’re natural. As Grace announces in the opening title track, “Like a butterfly, I rise from my lowly ground.” Subsequently, these 11 songs are intended for anybody intent upon raising themselves above any lowly place they happen to find themselves, and fly free like a butterfly.
Grace closes her album, quite appropriately, with a song titled “Butterfly”. She receives much inspiration from the final life form beauty of a colorful butterfly. “I took a fancy to a butterfly,” she sings, “she took me flying on the wings of desire.” However, Grace is just as enamored with the supernatural world, as she is with her natural surroundings. In one song called “Believe” that contemplates extraterrestrial life, she asks the question: “Do you believe in Angels?” There’s the pull of the natural world, which basically tells us that what we see, is what we get and that’s all there is. But there is also something that tugs at the imagination of even the staunchest atheist: Is there really more than can be seen with the naked eye? Elsewhere, Grace recognizes the angelic characteristics in mortal humans, too. During a track called “Love Makes”, she recalls meeting a woman who “was white as snow.” This woman “was an angel, in an earthly groove.” Perhaps this is where we truly encounter the divine; whenever it intersects within earthly beings, and inhabits them in a most spiritual way.
Like a butterfly, Grace has a naturally beautiful voice. Without question, she is a professionally trained singer that must certainly have sung operas at one point in her career. However, this CD is packed with personal songs about a personal journey, which would be difficult to replicate in the oftentimes overly dramatic world of your typical opera.
In many cases, these songs are quiet, demanding close attention. In contrast to, say, an R&B singer, Grace rarely uses her fine vocal instrument to reach out and grab the listener’s attention by the collar. Instead, she invites you into her quiet, contemplative world softly, where you’ll likely need to slow down your racing brain and walk, not run, to completely get it.
As pretty as Grace’s voice is – and it is quite a fine talent to behold – it’s an extra treat to hear her break out slightly soulfully a few times. This aural changeup is particularly notable with the song “Sweeter than Rain”, which brings to mind Carole King’s distinctive blue-eyed soul. Grace is also a skilled musician, too. On this disc, for instance, she plays guitar and keyboards. She also knows about the whole DIY process, as she produced and recorded this CD all by her lonesome.
Nearly everything about this project points to a magical world, whether it is a world that can be seen or not. In fact, the disc was recorded at a studio named, The Faery House At The End Of The Garden in West London. And somehow, that little geographical fact should come as no great surprise to anybody. As was stated at the outset, Karen Grace shares the whole concept album approach with rockers like the Beatles and the Beach Boys. But Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson often create musical fantasy worlds with their music as well, which means that Grace has more in common with these superstars than one might assume upon first impression.
Grace expresses the tension that exists between who we are as human beings and who we hope to be someday. But it’s also true that we are beautiful already, just the way we are. God doesn’t make junk. Sure, cynics may think such a statement is too close to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood for comfort. However, it’s essential to point out that, while Grace is on a quest for personal metamorphosis, she is – because of all her instrumental, lyrical, and vocal talent – quite beautiful already.
Review by Dan MacIntosh
