Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Are We Free? Not at all, we may give the appearance and nodding glance to the notion of liberty, but deep down we know we are tied to the spectre of authority, as a species, as an individual. It is only in the hands of the dreamers, the poets, the writers and the artists that arguably the land of independent thought can exist, even then it is secured and gagged by others who dismiss the point as being one only driven by the self, that the ideal of Utopia is one that cannot exist unless humanity dies.
The only thing to do once this realisation hits home is to listen to the dreamers and the musical orators who can at least extend that yearning that is deep down inside, that the one place we can taste the delight of independence, is in our own mind, that the pleasure of questioning is not one wrapped in the sheet of argument, but is instead a steady discourse and understanding.
To understand what freedom means, you have to see it through the eyes of the oppressed, the disadvantaged, the ones who have seen their way of life destroyed by those claiming their land, and for Native American Folk musician Burton Guibord, that freedom comes with the heavy price attached to the issues he and others have come to know as burden, as pain, only then do we know what to be free actually is, it is the reason for reflection.
In Are We Free? Burton Guibord places trust in the listener to reflect alongside him, to know the hardship and the treasure of thought as he plays with a tempting harmony that comes from a spiritual place, one born perhaps out of the natural rather than the love of the machine.
In songs such as Watching Over You, Madeline Island, Why Can’t They Comprehend, Ever Wonder Why and Your Heroes, Burton Guibord speaks to the soul and the mind in unison, the listener is placed in between worlds as the words flow over them, the meaning is enhanced and is with clarity that freedom is understood to be greater than sovereignty, it is about conquest of fear and hatred.
A remarkable album which gives the pleasure of thought to the listener, one that should be an example to all.
Ian D. Hall