|
 Artist:
Opihi
Pickers
CD:
All
For You
Category:
Island
Contemporary
Record
Company: Go
Aloha Entertainment
Release:
2003
Contact:
Phone
www.opihipickers.com
The Opihi Pickers – Imua Garza, brother
Hoku Garza, cousin Kahele Morales, Kevin
Okimoto and Shawn Ishimoto – exploded onto
the local music scene following the release
in October of 2001 of their 2nd
album, Beginnings.
Hits from the album such as “Old
Fashion Touch” and “Victim” soon
became local radio staples, launching the
group into the local music mainstream.
Like Beginnings, their
new All For You album offers
the listener many songs of optimism, hope
and innocence.
The album begins with the exuberant
passion of “Meant to Be,” which includes
some of Imua’s most charming lyrics, “I
smile when I sleep, Because I think of you,
I dream that when you sleep you are smiling
too.”
This yearning can also be heard in
the playful, “When Eye Meets Eye,” the
Paul McCartney/Wings-esqe Ever Since, the
whimsical “Destiny” and the smooth
groove of the title song.
But there is also innocence lost
here. The
singer’s stunned rejection in “What Did
I Do?” is dramatically underscored by the
controlled dynamics of the band.
The sad loss expressed in “Remember
When?” is beautifully conveyed by
Kevin’s vocals – a song which Kevin
says, reminds him of how he felt after
losing his beloved mother.
In the song, “I’ll Be Around”
– has the singer found a lost love or is
he in a fantasy obsessing over a complete
stranger?
The project ends with two tracks of
purpose.
The beautiful instrumental
“Cristofori’s Dream” was a piece of
music taught to Imua on the piano by one of
his closest friends.
It was important to Imua to include
this piece of music as a remembrance for his
lost friend.
“One of Seven” began as a poem
written by Hoku, Imua and Kahale’s Aunty
Monica for her brother Wayne, a retired
Honolulu
police officer, stricken with terminal
cancer.
Imua was given the heartfelt poem and
brought it to the studio where he set music
to it. It
was performed at Uncle Wayne’s funeral
just a few weeks later.
The version of “One of Seven”
heard on All For You is the
original demo recorded for the project.
It didn’t feel right to change it.
Sample
Shots:
-
When
Eye Meets Eye
-
All
For You
-
Girl
Can
I
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