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Seven Journeys

During the 2008 mixing of the Liona Boyd Sings Songs of Love CD, which I had chosen to do in Toronto after clashes between my engineer and my co-producer friend, Joanne, in Connecticut, I became reacquainted with Peter Bond, the talented young man who, in 2001, had worked as the engineer and mixer on Camino Latino. Not only was Peter an engineer and mixer, he was also a guitarist, drummer, singer, composer, and producer. After twisting Peter’s arm to play me some of his original music, I discovered that he was exceptionally brilliant when it came to sonic design, and I suggested that while I awaited the release of the love songs album, we could perhaps record a New Age–style CD. I could compose a few simple and beautiful melodies, and my hope was that he could come up with some Vangelis-like orchestrations similar to some of his own instrumental pieces.

The writing and creation of this CD, which contains some of the most haunting melodies I have ever written, took the two of us on an unexpected journey, and Seven Journeys: Music for the Soul and the Imagination seemed the perfect title.

Peter had been teaching himself electronics, creating unusual compositions, and analyzing sound ever since he was a child. He had attended a private school and, in his twenties, had graduated from one of the top music engineering colleges in North America, Full Sail, in Orlando, Florida. The authentic sound effects of rain, waves, and thunder you hear on Seven Journeys are all taken from his own extensive sound library.

This album had a magic and mystery all of its own. My father was stunned when he first heard the rough mixes, and he listened to it over and over again on my iPod, mumbling approval — something he had rarely done with any of my previous recordings though I know he had appreciated them. The head of marketing at Universal, Laura van Leest, was so enchanted by the music that she and her son listened to it for months before they went to bed; apparently it put them both into a relaxed state of mind.

Co-creating this music had lifted Peter and me into another dimension, and I know that people unconsciously pick this up when they hear this record. I like to think that it takes the listener on a spiritual journey, where at every bend of the imaginary river a new vista opens up, new sounds emerge, new melodies build, and surprises greet the traveller.

The CD opens with “Memories of the Mekong,” a melody I had composed a few years before while in Vietnam with Jack and the World Presidents’ Organization. I came up with the idea of adding my vocals in a fantasy language, much as Enya had done for some of her songs. For me, this piece evokes the lovely scene in the film The Lover, narrated by Jeanne Moreau, in which a young actress crosses the Mekong, her pigtails dangling beneath her panama hat. My solo guitar melody, which opens and concludes this piece, and Peter’s use of Eastern chimes and lapping, watery effects create a transcendent mood.

“Reflections” uses a haunting, suspended chord progression that I stumbled upon one evening. It is somewhat reminiscent of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1, but it progresses to a higher and mysterious darker minor theme, for which Peter contributed his own harmonized vocals.

In “Monasterium” I believe the listener can practically feel the cold monastery stones, hear the chants of medieval monks, imagine a storm followed by a rainbow, and experience a spring shower on the surrounding meadows where songbirds resume their pastoral gift to the landscape.

“Guided by Love” starts gently with a repeated ascending melodic fragment that builds up to a heart-wrenching melody followed by some delicate guitar improvisations. It is even instilled with a subtle Canadian flavour, thanks to Peter’s idea to add the sound of a distant loon calling across the lake. I hope one day this inspired piece might be used as the love theme to an epic movie.

“Vipassana” contributed an exotic Indian atmosphere to the album, and it is definitely not me singing the intro! Midway through the song, the scenery transforms and introduces a sweeping romantic theme before returning to its hypnotic Indian rhythm and melody. Interestingly, when Peter produced the rhythm track for Vipassana, he thought the downbeat of my melody occurred in a different place from where I had intended. This fortuitous mistake seemed to add to the piece’s mystery so we decided to keep it that way.

“Pearl River,” inspired by my boat trip with Jack along the languid Perfume River in Vietnam, lulls one into a contemplative state with its repeated and hypnotic guitar riffs. “Waltz Nostalgique,” the concluding “journey,” was somewhat influenced by Leonard Cohen’s “Take This Waltz.” It ends with a lyric in French that roughly translates, “Ah, it is love, love that makes us suffer … ah it is love, always love.” The piece conjures up imagery of archetypal landscapes, ancient temples, an abandoned ballroom, and a floating tropical market, all of which are described in the “Seven Journeys” poem I wrote for the CD booklet and that Peter orchestrated for an iTunes bonus track.

Seven Journeys

Come …

Come with me

Come with me on a journey

On a journey through time

Come with me on a journey that has no end

A journey guided only by love

From distant, mystic mountaintops

Down twisting pathways, step by step

Past half-forgotten memories

And half-forgotten lives

Past precipice and waterfall

Below the sacred rocks

We’ll find the fertile valleys

Where the pearly rivers flow

We’ll lie in meadows damp with dew

Feel golden sun and saffron light

’Til we remember long ago

So long, so very long ago …

Monastic stones and misty moors

Those muffled drums and marching feet

Those echoes only time can hear

Beyond the fading hills

Come dance with me in three-four time

Unlock the ballroom door

Where velvet shoes and silken skirts

Once swept across the floor

Now rain falls on these marbled halls

Their statues disposessed

Where only thunder claps alone

And lonely eagles nest

Let’s steer through floating markets

In a creaky wooden boat

Hear morning chants and temple bells

Beyond the jasmine fields

We’ll navigate these serpent shores

Pass through the tangled vines

Then rest our oars to dry beneath

The dark blood-orange sun

A cold north wind, a warm lake breeze

A sunburst cloud, a sudden shower

A loon that calls across the lake

A sigh of joy, a search for love

A rainbow in the night

A million steps, a million miles

A voice that sings, a heart that breaks

A story told, a secret shared

Our journey has no end

• • •

The Toronto-based photographer Al Gilbert, the same photographer who shot my First Lady of the Guitar album cover in 1979, took a portrait of Peter and me for the back of the album, and for the front I commissioned the visionary artist Jim Warren, most famous for painting a picture of three galloping horses for Bob Seeger’s iconic Against the Wind album cover. Jim created a beautiful oil painting, carefully recreating the archetypal landscape I had sketched from my imagination. The scene included the river of life, an old monastery, a mystic temple, and distant mountains. Today it hangs in my Palm Beach bedroom and looks down on my carved cherrywood music stand — just two of the treasures that my music has bestowed.

On our urging Universal released both CDs in the fall of 2009. It turned out to be a poor decision, as everyone focused on the love songs CD and my beautiful Seven Journeys never received the media attention it so richly deserved. I suppose my living in the U.S. and being distracted by so many house moves had made it hard for me to focus on promotion.

I asked renowned filmmaker Deepa Mehta for a quote for the album sticker, and she kindly wrote, “Hauntingly beautiful … emanating from a timeless realm.” Dan Hill called the CD, “Amazing, ethereal, haunting and exquisite,” and Gene Mascardelli described it as “a stunning collection of cinematic soundscapes. Spiritually infused … Vangelis meets Enya meets Morricone.”

Over my career I have come to realize time and time again that even with a manager or agent, artists have to do most of the networking and promotion themselves. Fortunately, Seven Journeys continues to sell steadily at my concerts and on iTunes, and Peter Bond and I have received many compliments for the original music we created.