Charlie Hilton: Palana Review

By Ezlyh Gutierrez
Music Reviewer

Artist: Charlie Hilton
Album: Palana
Label: Captured Tracks
Release Date: January 22, 2016

Charlie Hilton’s gentle tone of voice was the first thing I admired when listening to this composition of work, Palana. It is pure, light, and unaltered. Her lines are catchy and modest. Although I am not a fan of pieces that are overall too simplistic, Charlie Hilton’s mechanisms are charming and compelling. The theme of this album seems to be a beautiful fluffy dream, with a touch of bluesy flashbacks.

My favorite thing to do when listening to an album is closing my eyes and experiencing a mental image that I see fit for the melody, similar to ambient music in the background of a movie scene. I see Palana being the soundtrack for a low-budget Brooklyn film that portrays the beauty and pain of detached love and the emotional reality it brings to an individual’s life. Lyrics like, “Put your arms around me [and] tell me I’m okay, even though I’m not laughing, it’s funny anyway,” gives the listener a perspective of numbness. Lines like, “because I know that you’re nonfictional, your as true as the line that lies on the horizon—you’re the only thing that I believe in,” gives us a sense of the beauty that can be still found though an individual.

But as music should, this album can create a different setting for everyone. I appreciate the unified strings and variations of guitar styles throughout this piece and even the occasional bluesy tones we receive from the trumpet. However, I believe the stories that can be told and the dreamy atmosphere is what makes this album a masterpiece.