‘It’s a beautiful life
and you’re a beautiful sight
and it suits me just fine
to get lost in your eyes’
Sometimes it’s the sheer pulling power of music that draws an earnest Joyzine reviewer deeply within a new song. At other times, it’s the quality of the voice/voices that tend to reel us in. On lucky, rare occasions, it’s bits of everything – where the voice(s) and the music simply harmonise and blend into a magical sound, leaving us helpless with excitement and the overriding desire to comment on what we have just experienced. Here is such a case.
Azadeh is an artist who is certainly on the rise. Initially, she covered folk music that reflected her Persian heritage, leading to exposure on ‘BBC Persian’ and performances at the ‘Edinburgh Iranian Festival’, followed by an appearance at the ‘San Francisco Yerba Buena Centre’ celebrating Diaspora Women in Music. Azadeh also embarked on solo UK tours with the likes of Robert Cray, Jools Holland, Melanie C, Deacon Blue and Status Quo, performing at The Union Chapel, The Barbican Theatre, Liverpool Echo Arena and London’s Roundhouse. Now, ahead of a forthcoming album release later in 2021, Azadeh has released a new single, ‘Beautiful Life’.
Proceedings begin with a piano introduction, quickly followed by Azadeh’s gorgeous, lilting voice. The lyrics are profound and are sung with depth and clearly with true feeling/empathy behind them. As the second verse hits our ears, we’re joined with a very pleasant string section and a more complex piano arpeggio, before going back to the chorus with a simpler production. The music and voice combo is simply perfect and at no point do the vocals diminish behind the force of the music being played. All lyrics are beautifully sung and very clear to the ears. Full credit to the very talented musicians backing Azadeh’s angelic vocals, namely Joe Rodwell on piano, Alice Cooper Hall on violin, Ben Harrison on violin/viola and Natalie Rozario on cello.
The new single, expertly mixed by Dean James Barratt and released om August 13th, comprises three minutes and forty-six seconds of musical joyousness. I must admit that I hit the repeat button on multiple occasions; naturally in the course of technical journalistic research for Joyzine…but also because I really, really, really didn’t want this single to end.
More please.
‘Beautiful Life’ is out now on all of the usual streaming platforms.
Follow Azadeh on Facebook / Twitter
Review by Kev Milsom
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