Epiphany Project Live In Germany

Album Review

Composer John Hodian and singer Bet Williams' Epiphany Project uses piano-based new age musical textures to underlie ethereal, folkish vocals. Williams' soprano singing is reminiscent of Sandy Denny (and thus of her disciple Natalie Merchant) as well as Kate Bush (and thus of her disciple Tori Amos) when it isn't recalling Ladies of the Canyon-era Joni Mitchell. But Hodian's music is moody, with loose structures more suggestive of new age than folk, and Williams' lyrics tend to be either too allusive to admit to specific meanings or too specific to be really evocative. In the latter category is the morbid "Lockerbie," which concerns the airline disaster that happened above that Scottish village but has nothing new to say about it, while among the former are "Gone" and "Jealousy," brief lyrics that are more collections of images and impressions than anything that communicates clearly to a listener. There are also instrumentals and songs in foreign languages — "Tubwahun" renders the Beatitudes into Aramaic, and "Goth" draws from the Latin Mass with dozens of overdubs that make it sound like a selection performed by a boys' choir. Listeners may also be reminded of Enya on occasion, though Hodian and Williams are after a mood far more somber. (The album contains a 15th hidden track, "Waltz of the Wind," that sounds even more like Kate Bush than what has gone before.)