Most music makers consider themselves storytellers, people who use their songs to convey thoughts, ideas, truths, and opinions. And while that may be true, it is also true to say that most of them don’t actually have much to say, beyond general gushes of “woe is me” or declarations of “how cool am I?”. Most of it comes across as self-aggrandizing and shallow, which is why Jennifer Harper’s music has always stood out like a beacon of light and truth on the musical horizon.
Soul Alive, her third album, is, like those before it, a conduit through which she pours all that she has learned in two decades of spiritual practices and academic study of the human condition. And as such, the songs feel much more than merely something to be listened too, as much as they are entertainment, they are also something to be learned from, life lessons to be understood and related to, nuggets of universal wisdom being carried forward through the medium of seductive and sophisticated pop…although that is a word that hardly seems to do them justice.
A few of these songs I am already familiar with, such as the tribal pulse of album opener, “Change is Coming,” which feels more like a chant or mantra than a song in the conventional sense. And if singles such as “Butterfly,” “Remembrance,” and the title track, have already left their mark, any of the songs that lie between could easily have been singles too, such is the ethereal grace and creative benchmarks that guide them.
“Goodbye” is both beautiful and filled with heartache, a song that faces the inevitability of our passing with optimism, evoking a “crying tears of joy” feeling, “I Am a Queen” is an epic and sumtuous balladic anthem for empowerment, and the gentle “Mary Magdelene” restores one of the most missunderstood figures in spiritual history to her rightful place.
Jennifer Harper has said that “With Soul Alive, I’m not just performing songs – I’m inviting listeners into their own awakening. It’s a space for empowerment, release, and remembrance. This is music as medicine. It’s an activation of the soul,” something that becomes absolutely clear as you journey through these sonic teachings.
All music is entertainment; some is also informative, but fa precious ew artists can turn an album of contemporary songs, albeit ones that seems to echo through both time and timelessness, into something as vital, engaging, and essential as Jennifer Harper does here.
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