Off Kilter

Description

Off Kilter is the sophomore solo album by the American singer, songwriter, session musician, and producer Phil Madeira, self-released in 1996. Also released in the UK, distributed by Word Music. The album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Phil Madeira.

As gentle and honest an album as you’ll hear this year, Phil Madeira has crafted a work of tender beauty. Off Kilter tingles your ears with it’s lazy guitar playing but is far from easy listening in any kind of Neil Diamond way. It is so saturated with musical delights that you will never be allowed to drift into sleep. It will grab your attention and never let it go. Madeira of course is Mr. Session Musician in the Nashville CCM scene, I challenge you to find five albums in your collection where the omnipresent one hasn’t played on, and so quality was inevitable. Still I was not ready for how good a, rare, solo album from Phil would be. Beginning with the Lanoisesque mood of Jagged Heart and moving through Dylan, Cockburn and John Prine as reference points Madeira takes us on a songwriting ride through his spiritual journey. As the man himself says: “I’ve been carving, stripping back the bark, rounding off the edges of a jagged heart.” Gorgeous. An album of the year. A career work. [Steve Stockman, Rhythms of Redemption]

Readers of CD sleeve small print will recognise the name Phil Madeira as the chap who plays hot organ on dozens of Nashville sessions. He’s also no mean guitarist. On his own-label album, it’s a one-man-and-a-guitar sound honed by sophisticated production. It’s got the catchiness of country (made in Nashville, after all) and the throaty sadness of blues. It’s like the Eagles singing baritone, music for driving through the Arizona desert with the wind in your hair watching the sun set over the cacti. Madeira croons about looking for love and trying to hear the voice of God in a low tuneful voice that always sounds like it’s coming from the bottom of his heart. While «Wicked Job» is pure country – a song about misery sung as if he hasn’t a care in the world, «Meant To Be» is pure blues – a song about belonging, full of sadness. Easy on the ears, tough on the heart, Madeira has a kind of complicated sincerity a lot of Christian music lacks. [Susan Mansfield, Cross Rhythms, December 1997]

Phil Madeira’s “thanks” column in the CD sleeve reads like a “who’s who” of Nashville-based CCM. If you’ve heard of him before it’s likely that it’s through his session work on many, many CCM albums. Despite his high profile as a session musician, however, no label is distributing this album. Their loss.

Musically this album is extremely laidback, and while Phil’s reputation is mainly built on his Hammond and B-3 organ playing, this is more guitar-oriented, switching between clean electric and acoustic sounds. Those sounds are rootsy, with many a nod towards folk, blues, and especially country. All the instrumentals are handled by the man himself, but there are guest harmony vocals from Dave Perkins (Chagall Guevara) and Kenny Meeks. The guitar playing is solid (though not exceptional) and very melodic, while the other instruments adequately fill in the spacious arrangements.

The laidback feel of the album leaves a lot of space for Phil’s husky vocals and thoughtful lyrics. The first track, «Jagged Heart», contains some powerful lyrics focusing on the constant process of refining our lives:

Not like I had a plan
Not like I saw the goal
You got to wittle down to nothing
Before you’ll ever be made whole
I’ve been carving
Stripping off the bark
Rounding off the edges
Of this jagged heart

Life is explored in an honest way throughout the 12 tracks, with a gritty realism rarely seen within Christian Music circles; tales of love, encounters with others, and the struggles of the artist are all to be found here. The album has grown on me the more I listen to it, as I catch more of the lyrics and see the stories and messages coming through them more clearly.

Francine the first time I saw you
I’ll never forget.
Oh you shone like the silvery moon
on that night that we met,
But the warmth you reflected
Was as cheap as your cigarette.

The dark side of your soul
Appealed to the dark side of mine.
(from «Francine»)

I have enjoyed this album when in a couple of different moods – both as an album to unwind to, and one to sit back and think about. Each time I listen to it I discover some new gem in the lyrics, and I know I will keep coming back. [James Stewart, The Phantom Tollbooth, 1998]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/off-kilter/1320274572)

CD tracklist:

01. Jagged Heart
02. Diesel
03. Francine
04. Wicked Job
05. Off Kilter
06. A Girl Named Hope
07. Naked Eye
08. Fool That I Am
09. The Sound Of Your Voice
10. Just A Word From You
11. Meant To Be
12. Wasteland

Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://philmadeira.bandcamp.com/album/off-kilter

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