With this new release, Farstar reconfirms what a talented artist he is, bringing us a production that shines for the quality and performance it exhibits.
Enveloped in a touching and passionate atmosphere between jazz and pop, what stand out are the exquisitely chiseled arrangements, and the graceful way Adrew’s soft and versatile voice rests on them. It is a classic and at the same time contemporary touch, which allows the blind ex-church musician to reimagine a selection of classic songs that are part of the music history of the last decades.
And here comes the magic. To use a word that lacks grace when compared to the preciousness of what this incredible artist manages to do, we could say here Farstar performs a miracle. Andrew’s album finds us at loss for words, because with his music, his expressiveness, but above all his sensitivity he changes the rules of the game.
What Farstar brings us is not just a simple stylistic exercise with which he reinterprets great classics. Of course he’s reinterpreting some classics, but in truth there is much more. What Adrew seems to be doing is reading and rereading that music with eyes that only he can have. Precisely that blindness that does not allow him to see with his eyes gives him the sensitivity of hearing that seems supernatural. And the key to ‘Classics’ is all here.
His unique interpretations of the successes of Dionne Warwick, Phil Collins, Dusty Springfield, Carpenters, Elton John and Burt Bacharach, just to name a few, are reinterpretations of the original songs; but the versions that Farstar redefines are made of the pure essence that lies at the root of each of the selected songs.
This amazing sensitivity evidently combines with a listening and analysis ability that has few equals. Here then is his eclectic and deliciously sophisticated taste combines with his singing skills, set in impeccably made arrangements and a production of the highest quality. And everything takes on new life and new light.
Not just for fans of quality covers, full of heart and love of music, Andrew Farstar’s ‘Classics’ is an album that will not disappoint even the finest palates.