One of my favorite genres of music is known as singer-songwriter in which the one who pens the words and vocalizes is also a consummate story teller. The mark of a talented artist is the ability to open doors and windows into a world that has the listener wanting to visit over and over. Denise Moser is such a one as she reveals her frailties and fantasies, fears and triumphs. Her CD is called Here Right Now which is a paradoxical title since many of the songs touch on memory such as the sweetly sentimental I Remember with its tear-inducing lines “I can feel your kiss on my shoulder. I can see your eyes say “My love is the truth.” The opening song, I Believe is her wo-manifesto as she declares: “I believe in winter boots……I believe in deep earth smell and the sound of falling rain. In tripping over my heavy heart. And in gettting up again…..I believe in brown hair turning gray.” The title song is an ode to change and means of Moser claiming all of who she is, her woundings and thrivings as a seasoned woman and the meandering path it took to get her from where she was to where she now stands. Oldest Dream bares her soul to a new love, it seems as she offers transparently “I’m not a perfect girl. I never tried to be. But I’m mostly beautiful. If you know how to see…..I’ll make friends with your ghosts .I’ll make my heart your holy host.”) .” Boy Store is a playful jaunt as she places a special order for the man of her dreams. Moser spills herself wide open as she scribes her Unfinished Song on the blank paper that she calls ‘an old friend’ on which she writes about a deep unfulfilled dream of being a mother. The tune is reminiscent of the hymn written by Robert Lowry How Can I Keep From Singing. Overlapping voices embellish Lucid Dreaming as she speaks of being someplace that is ‘part school’ and yet at first listen, it sounds like she is saying ‘heart school’..maybe it is both. May This House is a prayer of welcome to herself and those who cross the threshold. Moser is in her element in prayer-realm since she is also a cantorial singer at Beth Chaim Reform Congregation in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The closing song Open Space is her God-communion as she sings praises familiarly ” You sure are creative. I like what you’ve done with the place.” and “I believe that what you are is what you’ve always been. I see you best when I look within.” Mark Moss joins her as multi-instrumentalist and back up vocalist.
Moser’s voice is like a familiar friend welcoming you home to yourself.
www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D-JTh0AFnrrI Here Right Now by Denise Moser
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