Transform Thyself

“Transform Thyself” is the new album of intensely beautiful and heartfelt diamond tracks from the artist and musician Val Denham of Yorkshire, England, in collaboration with Barcelona’s very own O Paradis. The result is nothing short of astounding. O Paradis and Val Denham have both released their own musical adventures on various releases over the years, but this is something else. “Transform Thyself” could well be considered a classic for years to come. This time, Val Denham drops the experimental “Sound as Art” stance and instead opts for something far subtler, genuine and dare I say it, mature. In her own words, “We wanted to make an album of real songs that would contaminate the listeners mind”. Very true, every track sticks in the subconscious. Catchy is an inadequate word here. Comparisons are hard to discern, Val Denham’s vocals being neither male nor female. The title of the album itself “Transform Thyself” may well be a metaphor for Val’s own transgender experience. The opening track “She’s a Witch” being especially revealing with the line “Don’t you know that a witch has a dick!” driven along by an infectious rhythm and hellish horns on the chorus. What an opener! Each subsequent song seems to add more to the general mood of strange longing. Every word is real here. Nothing faked by Val Denham and O Paradis. Poignant and relevant to today’s angst ridden times. A lot to think about. Strange moments do occasionally emerge perhaps simply to nod to the experiments of yesterday, but they do work within the context of the over all concept of the work. “My Blackest Flowers” is wondrous example of this principle. A dizzying array of instrumentation from O Paradis that at times borders on the painfully beautiful, Just one example being the wistful Satiesque piano on “Thinking of My Girl”, which is nothing short of haunting. This is an album of 16 tracks that shine very bright about the fragility of the human condition. “I watch the shadows fade away” Should we call it a masterpiece? Comes in a nice Digipak.