Break My Silence
Kirk Ross
Label: Common Market Media
Release Date: June 18, 2012
Review Date: July 8, 2012
Break My Silence is the third solo project by Kirk Ross. At the tender age of five, he began playing piano and pursued classical studies until his teens when he began to take up the electric bass and developing a taste for rock and roll. Ross then went on to study music at the Berklee College of Music for a couple of years before launching out to find himself musically.
Kirk recorded his first CD on a cassette 8-track recorder and features Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers on drums. Brimming with courage and confidence, Ross ordered up a thousand copies and headed to Europe, performing on the streets of Germany, France and Holland for nearly two months. The effort made Ross enough money selling CDs and collecting donations to purchase plane ticket home as well as the entire cost of making his CD.
Fast forward to today and Break My Silence.
Over a year ago, Kirk began the slow process of recording a CD under the creative direction of friend and music executive, Paul Broucek. He first tapped Abe Laboriel Jr. (Paul McCartney) to record the drum tracks for ten songs, then guitarist and friend Jeff Thall (Bryan Ferry) to lay down a rich bed of atmospheric electric guitars. This gave Ross the desired foundation on to build the entire album. Over the next year, he laboriously spent a tremendous amount of time doing the overdubs in his home studio, recording vocals, bass, acoustic guitars and piano.
When Kirk was finished with all the recording, Broucek hired renowned London mixing engineer Andy Bradfield (David Gray, James Blunt) to mix the album and Grammy-winning engineer Gavin Lurssen (Eric Clapton, Elton John) to master the disc. The result is a richly dark, organic acoustic pop record, with a smooth overall production and pleasingly rough edges.
Three randomly picked favorites from this great disc are:
The title song, Break My Silence. This tune is worthy of use as a foundation setting tune on a TV show or on a movie soundtrack. The song is very moody and introspective, it reveals something new – both lyrically and musically with each and every listen.
A Little Love is cry for help, love and affection brilliantly written and beautifully performed, this great little tune was worthy of multiple slaps of the repeat button.
The final randomly chosen favorite of this album full of favorites is the ethereal Blue Light. The moods and emotions that this song evokes is, again, worth multiple listens, each time revealing the depth of this beautiful song.
Fans of easy, thought provoking music will definitely want to add Kirk Ross’s Break My Silence to their collection of great music because it deserves to be heard and enjoyed repeatedly.
Written by Randy Patterson
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