Jan (Yahn) Peters &The Monday Night Project/The Naked Hearts

Jan Peters & The Monday Night Project – ‘These Waters’

Well now, it’s time for some life-affirming sounds all the way from the US of A, Bellingham, WA to be precise. Jan Peters has been playing music and cheering audiences for over 25 years with some pretty lovely creations. So go get your rocking chair, put it on your decked veranda – or maybe you’d prefer a hammock, gently swinging between the trees in this lovely spring sunshine, with the butterflies fluttering by. Take your pick, tune in to this channel when you’re ready.

‘Cold Seattle Morning’ is as sweet as a honey-covered crumpet, with a cinnamon toast aftertaste. It’s got some really pretty guitar picking too, it’s toe-tapping bliss, really… “I didn’t sleep last night” – well it’s worth staying up to listen to this in the early hours, it’s mellow and has a golden ambiance. ‘Call to All’ pushes away like a steam train, with a definite eco-awareness attached – so that would make that a bio-ethanol train then. It’s got that feel-good factor, like you’re doing something good for the planet just by playing the CD, so you can stop feeling guilty about those carbon emissions. Phew. Ohoooh, and I do like ‘Shaking Away’ – featuring such truisms as: “Now is the time for everyone to see/that everyone is related to a refugee. Anything that happens to one of us, happens to us all.” Yes! Get that Jim Davidson, and any NF types – go figure, that includes you. It’s all down to karma at the end of the day. Such a strong statement sung so sweetly, but would be equally good blown up on a poster, somewhere near Parliament.

Everything swings most pleasantly through ‘Drumming In The Night’ and ‘Little Lost One’, then BAM! It’s “Hasta La Vista baby” to numb sculls with ‘Primera Vista’ (the vista concerned could well be the U.S. government program established in 1964 to provide volunteers to work at improving the living conditions of persons in impoverished areas of the U.S., its possessions, and Puerto Rico.) But then again I could be wrong. ‘These Waters’, the title track, polishes things off to a buffed shining finish. What more can I say – for music that touches the soul, for any life moment that requires a certain amount of soul-searching or Deep Thought, this would be the perfect accompaniment.

Cos we’re all on the same side when the mushroom hits the sky, aren’t we?

Score: Nine out of Ten. Music for the soul, for those that haven’t sold theirs just yet.

Anya Victoria Hastwell for Hard Wired, UK
www.hard-wired.org.uk - Anya Victoria Hastwell for Hard Wired, UK

Yes, Patience IS a Virtue
by S. Vadinska
There is something to be said for practicing patience
when it comes to presenting your art to the world.
Whether it’s the art that needs to ferment or the artist
who needs to marinate, when one's work is unveiled in
its right time it seems to take on a life of its own. “These
Waters,” the new release by Jan Peters and the Monday
Night Project is one fine example of this.
Jan, a local singer-songwriter and instrumentalist, has
carried around some of the ideas, lyrics, and melodies for
this independent CD for 20 or more years. Perhaps he was waiting for the Monday
Night Project (a gathering of musicians who performed at Boundary Bay, you guessed
it, every Monday night) to polish this energetic mix of world sounds and celebration.
There are so many good things to say about “These Waters.” At first listen, what
stood out for me was Jan’s smooth vocals, the clean production, precise sibling
harmonies (from Jan’s sister, Maggie Kavanagh), interesting and varied rhythms, and
mostly, the way it made my body move. Jan delivers his stories of life and love as if he
were fully conscious of every note and breath, deliberately choosing when and where to
place them within the syncopated mix surrounding him. And, like the messages he
conveys with his lyrics, you can hear his enthusiasm for life, his love for people, and a
solid strength at his core.
Another stand-out was drummer, Julian MacDonough. Though the songs were no
doubt written with their various Celtic, bluegrass, calypso, jazz and eastern European
flavors, Julian’s mastery surely brought the cream to the top.
As far as the songs themselves, I really enjoyed the bluegrass-train-chugging “Call to
All” in which Jan’s voice IS the train whistle calling out in the night. I also liked the
playful, bouncy blues of “Little Lost One” as well as the peppy Klezmer instrumental
piece, “Primera Visita.”
My favorite songs, however, were those that made me sway to a slower, sensual
groove, allowing more space for tasty guitar leads by Brian Cunningham and rich bass
sounds from Jimmy Lindquist and Tom Anastasio. In my opinion, the best of these is
the last song and title track, “These Waters.” It is jazzy and soulful as well as a
comforting reminder that… "Every shade of blue is a place to heal / Every shade of blue
is a region of your heart and an entrance for your soul...."
I would highly recommend this CD to anyone who appreciates artists who rise to the
call of their work.
Help Jan and the Monday Night Project musicians celebrate the release of their new
CD at the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center on Friday, February 20 at 8pm.
Admission is $8 (children under 12 are free). To hear a sample from the CD go to
www.janpetersmusic.org.
S. Vadinska is a local singer-songwriter who teaches guitar and writes for the joy of it. - Entertainment North West