Life happens, as the saying goes. Angeleno Hillary Reynolds can attest to that. What started as a project 6-ish years ago got waylaid by the pandemic, pregnancy, and raising a child. While she could have dropped making the album, and was at times tempted to do so, it became important to finish. Unlike many of her songs recorded by others, there were a few too personal to pitch to someone else. So she went back out, got her performance legs back underneath her and then went into the studio and made Changing Seasons.
While acoustic guitar and piano are setting the folk style of the music, it’s Reynolds vocals that define the record. Jumping In shows the range of her voice and builds drama toward the end where “love has only shown there’s a deeper end.” Gaslight has her providing her own background vocals, with a complexity reminiscent of I’m With Her. Disappearing also showcases those multi-layer vocals, with her band providing an extra layer of emphasis. It’s a song about friends who don’t keep in touch, and while she’s ready to forgive there’s a sharp reminder “I’m calling you out so you don’t go disappearing.”
As noted earlier, several compositions are obviously quite personal. No One Knows I’m Here was inspired by hiking and journeys in the woods. Piano and mandolin provide a lightness reflective of the joy of being outdoors. Also evocative of the healing power of nature is Magic, where she “found the peace I craved to mend my broken soul” camping in a redwood grove shortly after the 2016 election. Can’t Turn Off My Mind is a straightforward song about insomnia, at first uncommon but now a familiar part of life. The CD finishes with You And I. It’s a love song to her husband, and with the final lyrics being “I am home when you’re close to me” it puts an exclamation point on the importance of the album to her.
Hillary Reynolds arranged her new record to serve as a reminder about life’s priorities and a calm grounding for first thing in the morning before the normal chaos takes over the day. Personally I’m more into something energetic and caffeine to get me going, but found Hillary’s album a nice evening listen to smooth some of the sharp angles off the day. Either way, Changing Seasons will be a bright spot in your routine.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.