06-18-15 “Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour #169 is a spacious and mystical 4-song cycle from the core trio of the Gaea Star Band, Mariam Massaro on vocals, acoustic guitar and ukelele, Bob Sherwood on piano and Craig Harris on congas. This week’s spring paean is “Woody On The Tin Roof”, a pretty, shaded piece that evokes a late spring morning with Mariam’s evocative imagery. “Where Are We Going?” is a widescreen ballad built on a series of austere, classically-inflected movements. Common throughout the piece is an unsettled, undefined tonal center that represents the shifting, uncertain character of the title. We land in a pretty major motif for the conclusion as Mariam intersperses native flute passages with lovely improvised lyrics over Bob’s not-quite-comfortable piano figures.
“Mists Of Love” follows the break and continues the pattern of shaded ambiguity, this time with an appealing and meditative constant shift from major to minor. The song builds slowly to a driving crescendo and drifts away with a series of native flute interjections over a series of simple, open piano figures that reprise the major-minor games of the earlier movements. We conclude with a driving take of Mariam’s “Queen Of Heaven” from her “Gaea Star Goddesses” album.
