Michael Lewis / The Natural World: lyric-driven songs of the borderlands

This debut acoustic solo album of all-original material from Traveler's Dream band member Michael Lewis is called The Natural World: lyric driven songs of the borderlands, and features guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, piano and powerful vocals. The songwriting is deeply intelligent and gracefully poetic, with an emotionally-charged delivery which never strays from its initial organic feel. A true gem!

The album title reflects Lewis' love of nature as well as our connection with the land, and with one another. As the quote on the inside of the recording states, "the 'borderlands' are the gray areas of life, both in nature and in our emotional, creative and cognitive awareness. The mythic or magical places and times for me are the moments between night and morning, twilight, the edge of the field and the wood, the riverbank, the bend in the path. These are the crossover places between this tangible world and whatever other world exists in our heads, our hearts, in the ether and in the natural world." Each song peels back another layer of emotional and creative depth as we are taken further into the both familiar and foreign landscapes of our hearts, minds and the natural world.

The songs are catchy right from the start and Morning Glory is a great opener for the album, with its grooving guitar and instantly singable melody. Misfits is heartbreakingly beautiful and was written with the character Nancy from Dickens' Oliver Twist in mind; and all those like her. (...but like it or not, it's the luck of the wheel. Sometimes it turns, sometimes it stops..." The musicianship is impeccable from beginning to end and the production is fantastic. Lewis layers guitar, Irish bouzouki, mandolin, piano and hand percussion along with plenty of vocals and harmonies to create a very enjoyable listen.

Every Ray of Sunlight is infectious and as near to pop music as a singer/songwriter can be without falling into all the traps that go along with pop. Solstice Night is stark and deep and reverent -- dreamy and mysterious. Into the Fields I Go gets right to the heart of the "borderlands" concept, as does What I Believe. The music changes and weaves back and forth between beautiful sweetness to intense introspection throughout the entire album.

There is a lyricism in these songs which hearkens back to Joni Mitchell, Dylan, Bruce Cockburn and Leonard Cohen. Lewis really knows how to choose words and crafts melodies that support the feel and depth of each song. Lewis has a poet's sensibilities and the lyrics really shine through on this recording. There are no easy rhymes, no contrivances -- just deeply intelligent songwriting.