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Michelangelo is reputed for portraying cherubs the way people imagine them to look, and by the same caliber, singer-songwriter-guitarist Jackie Carlyle's voice vibrates with a soothing lilt that only angles could attain. Although Carlyle would likely disagree with such an assessment, confessing that her biggest challenge has been "My self-consciousness! If I'm performing live, I don't have to think about it. But I'm not fond of the recording process. I'd much rather others record my songs. Let them suffer!"

Her voice has an airy quality reminiscent of such refined vocalists as Sarah Brightman and Charlotte Church. Her new CD Sculptures Made Of Air is a collaboration with Ukrainian artist Alexsey Zahkarenko with input from Ukrainian Opera singer Tanya Lubimenko. The album explores the ambient textures of Carlyle's register as she breathes a human pulse into Zahkarenko's music. 

"With Sculptures Made Of Air, I learned so much." she examines. "First of all, because Alexsey is in Ukraine, I had to put my voice down completely bare with absolutely no music behind me, no reverb, just a click track. I couldn't stand the sound of my own voice. I felt vulnerable and naked. I would cry to him and make excuse after excuse. I would procrastinate putting down the tracks. But then, I had to trust him 150%. When he sent the entire song back with my vocal mixed in, it sounded wonderful. So I started to let go more. I had never done a CD like that before. Still, song-by-song, I was freaked out. I would listen to just me breathing and singing the words into my microphone and to the click track and cry. And every time, Alexsey would send back the completed song, and it would be beautiful. No matter how many times Alexsey told me how much he and Tanya [Lubimenko] loved the timbre of my voice, I would still have to face that mic to the click track and I'd cry. Finally, we had a deadline and I just said, to heck with it and did it."

Carlyle and Zahkarenko were a meeting of souls in cyberspace as she explains how she became involved in a project that was created tens of thousands of miles away from her with Carlyle in Las Vegas, Nevada and Zahkarenko in the Ukraine. "I met him on the Internet. We each had songs competing for #1 on the same chart for about a year without me knowing. But when Alexsey finally knocked me off, he was happy to let me know. I don't know how the songs even got on the same charts because our genres were so different at the time. He then sent me a beautiful piece of music and asked if I could write lyrics to it. I did. It turned out lovely but both of us got busy with other projects and didn't hook up again for about a year or so."

She admits, " I had always wanted to make a CD with lyrics put to music like Alexsey composed and produced. That had always been my personal goal. For some reason none of the producers or arrangers I'd worked with quite understood the concept, or I didn't explain it right. I had written songs for other people in a variety of styles and maybe they couldn't see past that. Alexsey GOT IT right away. I would send him a song or concept of a song. Usually the lyrics were finished, but then he would send back a melody that he wrote. His melody was so beautiful that generally I would rework my lyrics word for word to fit it. I had never worked that way before, so disciplined. It was challenging, but rewarding. There were a few songs that were previously written but he would change the melody for the better. At that point they would become co-writers."

She enlightens, "Alexsey and Tanya are classically trained masters at what they do. Tanya is my all time favorite singer. She can do amazing things with her voice. She is an Opera singer, but I've heard her sing Pop. I've asked her to 'Please' learn English, but I don't know if she's interested. I would love it if Alexsey and I could write a an entire CD for her. About Alexsey. After his first stint as an Electro/Pop star in Russia, Alexsey started recording Sacred Russian Orthodox Church Choral music in 1995. After that he released 'All Night Vigil' by the Kiev Theological Academy Choir, and Kiev (caves) Monastery. It was the first Church music released in Ukraine after the break down of the USSR and still one of the best recordings of Russian Orthodox Church Choral Music Recording. He then began collaborating with the Kiev Chamber Choir, which is one of the best chamber choirs in the world. Then he went on to concentrate on his own compositions. Though ours was a collaboration based on mutual respect, I was quite honored to have worked with Origen."

She tells about her song "Windows" from the album, "'Windows', to me, is a way of saying that everything in life comes and goes, memories, trends, people, places. technology. And there's an upside and downside to every
experience you have. If something is painful, you also have to see the upside as well. You can't get stuck in time. You have to let go and go on to the next thing. It's sometimes sad to say, but I'll meet up with people I've known from years ago and they'll talk to me as though it was 20 years ago. I've grown a million lifetimes since then. I've been around the world three times. I don't mean that in an insensitive way, but I'm not 16 anymore. Every experience is part of who I am today, but I don't hold onto any particular one longer than the next. I live one day at a time. There are highlights of course; riding a camel around the Pyramids of Giza is something I'll never forget, on the other hand, getting your heart broken is a scar that fades slowly. But like the song says, 'you close one window, and open the next.' I love life. I love to observe it, others as well as my own. It's great for writing songs. I don't always write about myself, that's for sure."

She provides, "The song 'On A Winter's Night'," from Sculptures Made Of Air, "was originally a Ukrainian folk song that I wrote English lyrics to. Alexsey turned it into an electro/pop version for the CD. If you want to hear Origen's version of the original 'Hey Moon' go to Youtube and put in Tanya Lubimenko 'Hey Moon'. It will blow you away. On the other hand, I've been hacked and stalked so badly that I had to give my computer to the FBI. I used to be so open and naďve, and I would answer every friend or fan that wrote me. I trusted everyone. I learned some steep lessons. Now, I'm careful about who I put my trust in when it comes to everything, even collaborations. But like everything, you have to go on. 'YOU CLOSE ONE WINDOW AND OPEN THE NEXT'."

Carlyle was mindful about keeping some tracks on the album as pure instrumentals as well like "Rendezvous In Pachebel's Fantasy" and "Sculptured Symphony in G." She reveals, "I love listening to Alexsey's work. We wanted to make a soothing CD, one you could kick back and relax to, but one that actually had 'song' songs on it too. I asked Alexsey if he'd mind putting some of his compositions on without my vocals and lyrics on. About 'Sculptured Symphony in G', I asked him if he would end the CD with a musical piece from the title of the CD and the last song as a concept. I thought it would wrap things up really well." 

Although the album is in the vane of electro-pop, Carlyle expresses that the songs are versatile and could be shaped to fit other genres. "I play guitar so I can always just sit there and interpret a song with just me and the guitar, singing the melody, but I knew these types of songs would require much more than that. Today a lot of people use backing tracks. Most venues have great PA systems and if you set the sound up right you can get a pretty good mix. Then you can sing to the track. Alexsey has made the mix so good that I can just stand up and sing. Lots of times I prefer playing alone or with tracks unless the players are completely professional. I'm all about the song and the lyrics especially, so if a player has an ego problem, they will try to drown you out to be heard, and that can ruin a show. I once flew with Don Henley to Nice for a private party. He doesn't allow that to happen because it's all about the words to the songs, and if you can't hear his words he'll just stop the players, pick up a guitar and sing the song."

Carlyle's experiences on previous tours honed her instincts to know how to reach out to audiences. She reflects, "Whenever I write I am always thinking of how I can affect the lives of other people. I see other people in my mind as I'm writing, as though I'm talking to them. I have tried to write simple lyrics but they usually don't turn out that way. They seem simple to me, but some sort of message usually sneaks in there. I have always wanted to help people feel less alone. I have always felt like an outsider. I feel things deeply and I have a great deal of compassion for other people and beings on Earth, animals, etc."

She shares, "My favorite saying on my website is 'IT'S NOT THE FAME, IT'S THE FLAME!' So, of course, Alexsey and I want our CD to do well, and we have already sold a great deal of CDs, but mainly we want our fans to enjoy it. I plan to go out and start performing again soon. I haven't performed in awhile. I've been taking it easy, recording the CD and riding my horse. But I'm starting to feel that desire to be in front of people again. When you play live you get such positive feedback and it's very rewarding. You see old friends and make new ones."

Before Sculptures Made Of Air, Carlyle had released two solo albums, Into The Light and Souls In The Breeze. Both were inspirational works, although each was derived separately harnessed from different sources of motivation. "I wasn't as happy making the first two Cd's," she regards definitively. "They weren't really what I had in mind. But they were songs. Souls In The Breeze was more 'song' oriented and Into The Light was very philosophical. I was going through this discovery of what I thought the Universe was all about. And my brother had just passed. I think it was a very compassionate CD."

Courage was a commodity that Carlyle had a limited amount of when she was starting out as a solo artist, but gradually she built up her courage from the support she received. She cites a moment of encouragement was "Being told by Don Costa that I was exceptional at writing lyrics was the most encouraging thing a songwriter could possibly hear. Also, before I met Don I had a great opportunity to live in Mexico City in my early 20s. I wrote for magazines similar to Cosmopolitan and so forth."

Songwriting and singing were recurring themes throughout her life as she mentions, "I remember winning a story-writing contest in elementary school. And I used to write poetry when I was a kid and hide it under my bed. I used to come home from school every day and tinker on our piano. Then an ex-boyfriend gave me a guitar. I got lost in the whole process. I would stay up all night sometimes and write song after song. Also, I couldn't do anything else right. I'm serious. You should have seen me when I tried to be a waitress at a breakfast place when a family of 8 came in one time. They all wanted something different, eggs over easy, scrambled, sausage, bacon, rye toast, white bread, wheat. On top of that I had to write it down in a certain code for the Chef. I pulled off my apron and ran out. I have a lot of respect for waitresses."

She recalls, "I really began to find myself musically. I hung around a very artistic group of people and they were very encouraging. Around that time my father started having strokes. He had always been a mysterious figure in my life. He never spent a lot of time with me, but the strokes slowed him down a lot. Now he did have the time to spend with me and it really helped me to feel good about what I was doing and about myself. I had come from a family of business people. I was the only one who was artistic, so I felt very out of place. This business is full of rejection. I have taken my own path. I've sort of done what I wanted to do musically, taken the road less traveled. I wanted to see the World on my own terms. It's hard for me to adhere to a given schedule. I don't have the discipline for it. I suppose the worse rejection I ever felt was when someone called me from New York saying they loved one of my songs and wanted to meet me, and when I got to the place, they just hit on me. It had nothing to do with my songs. They just wanted a date for the night."

Though she has followed a few false leads due to her involvement with social communities on the Internet, she still believes that the Net provides aspiring artists with the means to catapult them into becoming flameworthy artists. "I think the Internet has changed the music business completely. It sure has ended the days of the CD that has one good song and 10 bad ones. People can pay .99 for the song they like best. It also makes room for the Independent artist. It has been positive in many ways. Alexsey and I could never have been able to do a CD from Kiev, Ukraine to Las Vegas if it weren't for the Internet. Not only have we done this wonderful project, but also we've made a lifetime friendship. I knew that one side of my family was German and the other I thought was Russian, but my brother said we were from Ukraine! So what an amazing thing to be able to have a relationship with an artist and also be able to rediscover your roots." 

Time may not erase all wounds, but it certainly makes us remember the lessons learned from being bruised by those experiences that stay with us. The most important trait Carlyle has nurtured is having the courage to rise above the hurt and move forward. It is easy to formulate a plan but it takes courage to go off course and pave a new trail. Sculptures Made Of Air is an album that Jackie Carlyle was meant to be a part of, but it took her years to see it and have the courage to veer off course and enter new lands.

by Susan Frances

www.jackiecarlyle.com

Singer-songwriter Jackie Carlyle has been honing her talents as an inspirational artist for the last two decades. Leaning towards the country music side of the spectrum, Carlyle released two solo albums, Into the Light and Souls in the Breeze, both in that vane. Today, she has found a new asset in her vocal repertoire, the ability to soar like Enya and harmonize with imaginary pixies like Hayley Westenra. 

Carlyle’s latest release Sculptures Made of Air is collaboration with music programmer/multi-instrumentali st Alexsey Zakharenko whose work with his label Origen fashions ambient music with a folkloric edge and a fantasy-induced aura. Whether the pair indulges in the exotic Arabian tones of “Windows” or the tranquilizing Americana ringlets of “Arlington,” the tracks have a storytelling lyricism that complements the melodic trimmings.

The braiding of willowy strings and finely stroked vibrations along “Amsterdam” mold gently around Carlyle’s soothing vocal swags, while the shimmery synth accents strewn across “On A Winter’s Night” and the title track produce glistening eaves and scalloped boughs along the melodic progressions. Veering the course of the album into more fantasy-enriched terrain is the electro-pop crustaceans that form along “Dance of the Clouds” to create celestial-like ice castle. The misty vapors of “London to Tangiers” have an artifice of exotic Middle Eastern accents, and the tribal piping along “The Friendship” generate calming echoes that sound like they are moving across mountain tops as Carlyle vows, “When you are lost and all alone / I am your friendship that sails you home.”

The choral sounding vocals of “Rendezvous in Pachebel’s Fantasy” eject into smooth fluid motions, and the serene soundscapes of “Sculptures Symphony in G” are beautifully columned in satiny threading. The storytelling lyricism of “The Diamond Cutter” has a classic pop-slant reminiscent of Anne Murray, while the ambient glaze of “The Sound of Angels Singing” has a contemporary feel liken to Enya.

Jackie Carlyle has indeed channeled a new facet in her vocal repertoire, and a partner who knows how to work with her discovery. Previously, Jackie had gained chart recognition in Europe with her song “You Are My Anchor,” and later wrote “Into the Light” which became a theme song for the American Cancer Society. Sculptures Made of Air is an album designed to complement Jackie’s vocal stylizing and need to share her thoughts. Her songs delve into the part of her that engages in storytelling themes making modern fables for people to listen to, similarly to her idol Paul Simon.

Award winning singer-songwriter-guitarist, Jackie Carlyle has made a positive change in her life and is finding solace in creating music with an ethereal glow and a modern-pop compass.  Stepping away from the traditional sounding folk and alternative country prototypes which were the blueprints for her albums Into The Light and Souls In The Breeze, Carlyle has found her stride in welding a synth pop-wand with an ambient folk-sheen in her new songs, “The Friendship” and “The Sound Of Angles Singing.”  Collaborating with composer/arranger Alexsey Zahkarenko, Carlyle’s songs show her mettle for making inspirational material, and her desire to experiment with various sonic textures like glistening chime-like embers and undulating vibrations which produce a trance-like effect that holds the listener in a spellbinding grip.  The music moves with a smooth eloquence that bodes well with Carlyle’s vocals, and engulfs her in an angelic lighting.

Carlyle’s interest in songwriting can be pinpointed to Paul Simon.  She recalls, “I remember when I was very young, the first time I heard the first few lines to the Paul Simon song, “Hello Darkness, my old friend, I ‘ve come to talk with you again.”  She shares, “I felt for the first time in my life that I wasn’t alone on this earth, that there was someone else who understood, and so I took the poetry that I had under my bed and began to feel some pride in what I did.  And I wrote, and wrote, all night long.  Sometimes, because I wanted to make other people feel the way Paul Simon had made me feel…not alone.”

Carlyle shows Simon’s knack for grabbing audiences by their heartstrings with lyrics like “No one I know gets a free pass / Or sails through life on a sea of glass / No one's an island anymore / We all need a ride from shore to shore / So won't you think of me like you think of a ship / The friend who sails you home from every trip / When you are lost and all alone / I am the Friendship that sails you home” from her song "The Friendship."

Jackie Carlyle has written numerous songs, and many have received special recognition..  Her song “You Are My Anchor” made the record charts in Holland and peaked at #2. Her song “Into The Light” was donated to The American Cancer Society for one of their charities, and she wrote several theme songs for humane organizations like “Souls In The Breeze” for the Jewish Agency for Israel , and “The Lion Walks With Me” as a tribute to the Indian Yoga Master, Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan.

Jackie Carlyle has always been an inspirational artist, but her new material is pointing her towards a New Age and embracing modern pop in a way that makes her a forerunner of the genre.  It’s a change for the better.