PREMIERE | Jennifer Hall, "Belonging Forever"
Meditations on the catharsis of music with Jennifer Hall; photographed by Matthew Gregory Hollis.
Outlets of art and expression are the rudimentary mechanics of being that keep us alive. The world is rough. Rife with loss. Fickle friends. Deceitful suitors. Unfaithful lovers. Tributaries of unrelenting traumas. A world perpetually at war with itself. A perpetual battle of hope against the hubris of power mongering megalomaniacs. The chances for generative exchanges with ourselves, others and our communities offer the reprieve from the incessant onslaught of a universe hellbent on the exploitation of all living inhabitants, resources and every imaginable construct that can be monetized for momentary gain. Our engagement with our own talents, arts and crafts offers a way to break through the physics and gravity of everything that extends beyond our control. For everything that cannot be changed, the power of honing our own voices can break through the science of the deafening silence that enriches the mundanity of existence with the drive of greater purpose and meaning.
Chicago artist Jennifer Hall focuses on the infinite healing powers and properties of art in the face of all obstacles. Having recently graced these pages with the debut of “Why Cut Time” — Hall returns with a simmering synth studded symphony dedicated to the power of creativity and the mesmerizing properties of music with the premiere of “Belonging Forever”. The baggage of unbearable weights beset by the world’s overwhelming tilted whirl is countered with life affirming sung shouts that ring out and resonate to places beyond the material realms that we know all too well. Jennifer edifies the importance of the aesthetics and avenues that lead us toward the precipices of the eternal, stepping through the ineffable slipstreams of vision into new arenas and dimensions of the unknown and never before embarked upon.
“Belonging Forever” swims through an air of heart-beating keys, through foggy smolders of dusk toward the light of daybreak. The challenges of traversing through the tricky flight path maps of life take on the routes less traveled that finds a higher state of solace and grace in embarking upon newfound stratospheres. Jennifer Hall arranges electro arrangements to soar toward new heights of realized echelons of expression like turbines propelling an aircraft into the planes between the blankets of clouds below and the infinite galaxies above. Fusing spirit focused poetics and an electrically charged production, “Belonging Forever” takes the listener to new sacred places of communion. The clamor of caustic strife on the earth that we tread decreases in size and scope as Hall invites the audience to a safe space where visions and volition flourish — unfettered by the adversity and anguish that ignites the ire of our fights and flights of fancy.
Jennifer Hall offered some candid insights on the new single “Belonging Forever”:
For as long as I can remember, music has always been there for me, providing healing, nourishment and comfort in times when I really needed it most. It’s been a loyal friend, the perfect drug and the most enjoyable ride. As a kid I really gravitated towards singing as a creative outlet and I am not sure if I’d be here without it. It was therapeutic before I even realized what that meant and a friend before I was aware enough to recognize just how lonely I was. In the midst of intense chaos at home, music was there. While working through health and medical struggles, music was there. When I struggled through deeply painful life events like deaths and emotionally traumatic relationships; music was there.
This song, “Belonging Forever”, is really about how music hits the spot like no other and how there is nothing quite like it. The emotional release that I get from creating, listening and performing music is totally unique. There is a beautiful freedom that I feel when I sing and the high is incomparable.
Reflections by Jennifer Hall; photographed by Matthew Gregory Hollis.
In moments when I have felt an emptiness or an intense longing, I have certainly looked in plenty of unfulfilling places for wholeness. This song touches on that too — the moments when you push your feelings down in an effort to manage them and how you try to soothe yourself with unhealthy things but with little luck or success. The song touches on how nothing can offer that sense of resolve or peace that comes from making music and singing. It serves as a reminder to myself of how well music will take care of me when I’m depressed or feeling low, like the friend that it is.
I am tremendously grateful to have found this life saving and inspiring art form. I hope that art and music can continue to see us all through tough times as it has for me all these years.
Jennifer Hall’s “Belonging Forever” can be found here and everywhere.