Amy Wallace - Red Rose
Cards on the table, this is definitely not the typical music that comes my way for review but I really wish I got more of it. If you’re looking for something that is akin to Amy Lee having a very stunning musical orgy with Celtic Women and The Rankin Family, you would surely get the latest work by the powerful and talented soprano, Amy Wallace. Though she has trained and toured around the world for several years now, she has only just released her debut original work in the form of a memorial track entitled ‘Red Rose’.
Having known this stellar performer for many years now, in varying capacities, I know that there has always been an attraction to the ‘Red Rose’. There is something about not only the stereotypical imagery such a flower dredges up, but also about its long-lasting and personal connection to Wallace that allows me to understand how meaningful this song; this surprisingly joyful lament truly is to her.
Thankfully in contact with Amy directly, I was able to confirm that this original was indeed written in memory of a loved one lost and, in the wake of even more loss, ‘Red Rose’ has become a magnificent musical dedication to those gone before.
To the music itself, it did not escape my notice by style of music that the composition of this piece was created by Amy’s also wonderfully-talented brother Christopher Wallace, of Truly Productive Entertainment. He has created something of an expected love song that delves into deep valleys of sorrowful keys with a beautifully vaulted peak of triumphant brass. It is a wonderful foundation on which Amy built a hauntingly gorgeous song. It must also be pointed out that the subdued but no-less-noticeable and well-matched backing harmonies are thanks to Christopher as well.
Aside from the sweet composition, the touching harmonies and the amazing lead of a beautiful soprano with a world of opportunity ahead of her, I must say that there is a certain lyric in this piece that both produces an indelible image in my mind and conjures up thoughts of ‘My Immortal’ by Evanescence. While the chorus always ends with “Like the rain that kisses the rose”, the final words of the entire song are slightly changed with “But now the rain, Kisses your rose”. Now I’ve been to more funerals than I would like and I have been digging graves for a local parish for years so all I can picture is a gravestone, standing solitary with a single red rose rested upon it as the rain begins to pour down like tears from Heaven.
Of course, as Amy mentioned briefly in our discussion about this track, it does mention some degree of belief but ‘Red Rose’ is a song that confronts despair and brings to bear the idea of hope, whether it is in the mystical notion that we all meet again in a place called Heaven or simply all share in the same fate and, in so doing, return to the same shared energy.
Regardless of your faith or lack thereof, I must say that ‘Red Rose’; this gorgeous debut from Amy Wallace is certainly worth the listen. Take it from someone who has just listened to it ten times in a row while blurting out all that comes to mind. This is certainly going on my regular rotation. Many thanks to Amy and her brother Christopher. I can’t wait to hear more. And if you can’t wait either, just keep checking in for when I review her upcoming album, ‘New Dawn’!
What better way to start the new year? Now wake up and smell the roses right HERE!
