Album Notes

Mystery of Souls debuts the music of Melanie Hutton and Marshall Lefferts, an eclectic, innovative, sensual, and passionate landscape of "otherWorld" music. Ten tracks influenced by many musical genres, both ancient and timeless, and lyrics both sung and spoken in an intuitive language like incantations and tales from another realm, offer listeners an experience that is evocative and soul-stirring… and very dance-able.

Eight of the songs are original compositions, from trance-like rhythmic dreamy dance grooves, to achingly romantic instrumentals, to bardic love stories, to folk-like street songs. Mystery of Souls also includes two traditional instrumental arrangements--a medieval Sephardic Romance from Spain, and a festival song from Nepal--representing the influences and inspirations of both artists. The music is lush with live instrumentation of hammered dulcimer, guitars, multi-percussive rhythms, violin, cello, viola, and flutes.

World-class musicians offer up their creative mastery to make this music soar, including David Darling on Cello, Suzanne Teng on Alto Flute, Manose on Bansuri Flute, Gilbert Levy on Percussion, Randy Tico on Bass, Hom Nath Upadyaya on Tabla, Christopher James Thomas on Percussion, Mary Collier on Violin, Nelson Denman on Cello, and Modesto Marcano on Viola.

These songs are more than just musical entertainment. They are the expression of a deep impulse in voice and music that calls the Soul forth and awakens us into the realm where we come fully alive into ourselves. Listeners say they somehow know the intuitive tongue woven into these songs, are drawn into it and aroused deep in their soul. This is the power of music, and Mystery of Souls is timely in these times—an invitation to meet the mystery of our soul.

Let this music, then, inspire your opening and your passion.