Alchemy of a Rose

A Review by Charlie Montroll

I’m used to lovely, yet over–produced harp recordings that are lush, but not necessarily much more than that. Alchemy has a very mysterious, haunting, sometimes dark, often sparsely produced quality to it that actually allows the harp to stand out. And so much of it is playful and self–affirming as well (self–affirming in that the music sort of lifts you up). As I was listening, it seemed more and more like I was listening to the wire harp as it was probably played long ago, not a commercialized pretty picture, but a whole feeling that I was hearing music for a moment through a window of time.