released January 1, 2010

The 2nd solo album from this Canadian singer songwriter. An eclectic, artistic mix of earth inspired soulful pop; ambient, eco/peace driven music with a hint of jazz, scat and spoken word.

Artist: Carrie Armitage
Album: The Spirit Of The Times
Review by Ellie Blair
Rating: 5 Stars (out of 5)

Through her talent, commitment, and passion for a healthier planet, Carrie Armitage has created a complete story in this CD. It is cultural. It is eclectic. It is thought provoking, passionate, and intentional. While all 12 songs address the same subject matter, they are diverse and memorable in their own right. The Spirit Of The Times is a must-have for anyone who desires peace and harmony on Earth, and will encourage music lovers to take on new ways of seeing the world.


Artist: Carrie Armitage
Album Title: The Spirit of The Times
Reviewed by: Matthew Forss
Rating: 4 Stars (out of 5)

Carrie Armitage is a Canadian singer-songwriter with a proclivity for ecological-consciousness and peace activism. Carrie’s recent release, The Spirit of The Times, is a fairly candid take on the global awareness and preservation for the Earth’s vanishing resources. Carrie’s awareness of Earth’s impending plight is a musical message of electronica with varying shades of jazz, trip-hop, house, and lounge. The ambient beat of electronica and her vocals carry the song’s highs and lows from the darkest depths of Earth’s inner core through the vast darkness of intergalactic space.

The Spirit of The Times opens with “Great Floating World”, which is a percussive song with a beat resembling flowing water. The song is led by Carrie’s vocals about the precarious nature of Earth’s ecological balance. A spry piano medley is interspersed with haunting, symphonic vocals and a few spoken words. In short, Earth’s buoyancy in the greater universe is in turmoil. The most non-electronic song on the album is “Time To Find It”. The snare drum beat, somber piano playing, and Carrie’s pressing vocals about finding something before it is too late is a song without a clearly-defined theme, but the snare drum-marching rhythm suggests a song about finding an alternative solution to war.

“Water” is an anthem about water preservation on a global scale. The vocals are backed by gospel singers, a trip-hop piano beat, and spoken word phrases about the properties of water. “No Words Only Love” is a jazz-influenced romp through the electronic ether of the universe. The non-sensical, almost frenetic, vocals match the scat-vocal techniques indicative of jazz-pop standards from the mid-twentieth century. The electronic sounds have the musical ingredients for a potentially good song by the French-electronic group, Air. “What Do You Think” takes an angle on responsibility, civility, and social action. The gospel-esque backup singers and rhythmic overtones lighten the listening mood and evokes a contemplative response about the environment.

“The Twisting and Turning” is a whirling sound of jazzy-piano vocals with some percussion and electronic tones. The vocals seem a bit restrained, but it is nothing out of the ordinary for this type of music. “Into The Sublime” is not necessarily melodic, because the rhythm follows a more avante-garde, jazz standard pattern. However, the layered vocals at the end of the song are confusing and repetitious. Meanwhile, “The Spirit of The Times” continues the languid jazzy presence. Carrie’s spoken word parts excel on this track. The spoken word and mostly non-sensical lyrics on “It’s Up to Us” proclaims that love is a universal trait that should be shared. The song title is repeated throughout the song amid a trip-hop, electronic beat resembling the music of downtempo pioneers Alpha or Waldeck. “Watershed” sounds like something out of Ireland’s Ronan Hardiman’s symphonic and piano repertoire. The drippy electronic sounds, haunting vocals, and ethereal chants evoke the sounds of Enigma or Tangerine Dream’s instrumental works.

Carrie’s love for the environment is definitely an inspirational and critical topic to consider on a musical level. Still, her vocal delivery may be best suited for the spoken word genre. Carrie’s singing is passionate and beautiful, but it seems to work the best in the more jazz-centered songs. She foregoes melody for the message in some instances, but also creates moments where the dynamic electronic sounds and sheer amount of aural colors are stunning. The Spirit of The Times is a very good work of avante-garde or eco-trip-hop.