At the age of 81, Paul Simon released his fifteenth studio album – the meditative Seven Psalms. Seven songs appear as one musical suite with a running time of 33 minutes. Bells chiming to open “The Lord” is one of the few sounds to be heard other than acoustic guitar, as Simon sings “Tears and flowers dry over time”. He casts his heaven bound doubts on “Your Forgiveness” where he is “hoping the gates won’t be closed”.
“My Professional Opinion” sounds more like a typical Paul Simon song. A bit more jaunty and upbeat with some funny observations that he “heard two cows in conversation/one called the other one a name”. Like the end of many tracks here, Simon then reverts back to the lyrics/tune of “The Lord”. Wife Edie Brickell appears on two tracks, sounding angelic on the final track “Wait” where she sings that “heaven is beautiful/it’s almost like home”.
Seven Psalms was named as Uncut’s second best album of the year, an amazing feat for the octogerian. The album has also received near universal acclaim in its reviews. It is an album that is not designed to have on the background while running errands but for quiet contemplation. A fine album that listeners a lot younger than 80 can return to from time to time.
7.5/10
The Light Appears 