“You Got a Hold On Me” opens Noah Derksen’s third full length album, “Sanctity of Silence,” released just last month. Each of the nine tracks, explains Noah, map the footfalls of love – found and lost. “The songs are ordered as I wrote them, and capture a specific moment along this fated arc of love.”
Every journey is fraught with uncertainty, from the initial exuberance of setting out to the disappointing heartache that accompanies the realization that the compass never really reads true north. Derksen colours these melodies with delicate hues and misty intimacy, soft as a whisper, cautious as a prayer. His intent clear and unsullied, he means to languish in the longing and contemplate the moments that linger like fading whisps of smoke.
“You Got a Hold On Me takes the lead, inviting you to picture yourself at 25, driving off towards the sunset, the warmth of the light on your face. The road winds ever so gently, a smooth two-lane highway with no one else around but the trees lining the pavement. Nothing else matters, just you, the one you’re with, and the miles ahead,” writes Noah of his own words.
With its hypnotic, repeated refrain, and enthralling melodic hook, Derksen is both inviting and somewhat foreboding. “We were heading westbound on road seventeen and you were looking at me with those green eyes / Should have known I was in for, such a time in my life, there was love in that sight, like a road sign.” Road signs often tell us more about where we’ve been, as much as where we are going.
Produced and recorded by legendary JUNO-Award winner Murray Pulver, with support from a long list of musicians and vocalists, Derksen presents a set of songs strung together like a charm bracelet, or perhaps like meditation beads, each one presenting a moment in time held only in memory but resonating deep within the heart, finding a path to forgiveness, reconciliation and peace. Astonishingly, the album tracks that follow this single only get richer and more beautiful as a love story unfolds and reveals all the lessons yet to be learned.
Photo credit: artist website
Douglas McLean fell in love with music at a very early age and has worked as a musician and songwriter since his early teens. He has a deep love for the written word and has spent his life in pursuit of language as a means to convey what Van Morrison once called “the inarticulate speech of the heart”. He lives deep in the Almaguin Highlands with his wife and their dog. Douglas is active in local radio, recording, producing and writing, in and around Huntsville, Ontario.
His website is:
http://www.douglasmcleanmusic.com
