Music Review // Mary Scholz "Begin Again"

 

The music of Mary Scholz feels like it is of a certain age and by that I mean there is experience behind it.  In our youth, we tend to listen to music that is more rebellious and perhaps is made by younger artists who think they know it all but really haven't seen anything yet.  But at the same time, there is this older set of music people seem to settle for when they age and I don't think Mary Scholz is quite there as an artist, which is good because I don't think I'm quite there as a listener.

From the very first song on "Begin Again" there is this acoustic melody which remains throughout the album.  "Happy Birthday" has these dark undertones and is about falling out of touch with someone, but then "Talk to Me" kicks right in and feels a bit funky.   Big pianos set the mood on "Tired/Sad" and in the end the song seems to be about turning it all around.  As you get older, you get more tired (and sadder) but you often times will just realize you have to push through or else nothing will ever get done.

On the fifth song there is some country twang and then that almost samba type funk comes in on "Ordinary Morning".  By the end, "Holy Man" feels a bit more ambient but Mary Scholz just has this way about setting the perfect mood with each song and the lyrics go along with that.  Somewhere between Alanis and Anna Nalick, Mary Scholz just seems to discover her own sound within this album and by the end it will be all that you can hear.

There is a certain point in your life when this album becomes relevant.   And there isn't a way to measure it: It is not when you turn 40 or when you graduate college, but it is simply that point in your life of hitting adulthood and realizing "This is my life now".   You won't know when you hit it, one day you just will, and at that time, "Begin Again" will make all of the sense for you and I hope you remember to find it.