"Terra Firma" ends my musical rut

Everybody knows the dreadful feeling of being in a music rut — when you can’t find anything good to listen to and you spend way too much time skipping through Spotify playlists. Well, if you're like me, stuck in a musical rut of misery, then look no further, I have got a great album for you to listen to.

Last Thursday, Feb. 17, at 10 p.m. MT, Tash Sultana released their second full album titled “Terra Firma.” For those that are unfamiliar with Tash Sultana, they are just about the coolest Australian music artist around. Sultana started gaining recognition after posting homemade videos on YouTube. According to their website, Sultana was gifted a guitar by their grandfather at age three, and they have been playing ever since. It also says that “Tash plays over 12 instruments (guitar, bass, drums/percussion, piano/keyboard/synth/oud, trumpet, saxophone, flutes, pan pipes, sitar, harmonica, beat production) with guitar as their main love. If that’s not impressive enough, Sultana also has a vocal range spanning six octaves, from C2-A7 on the piano.

Now, I have been a Tash Sultana fan since they came out with their first full album, “Flow State”, in 2018. Each song on the first album brings something different, and their talent is more than evident.

Their second album, Terra Firma, is also an absolute masterpiece. Since June 2020, Sultana has been giving fans a taste of the new album and had released five songs from the Terra Firma album before the recent release of the whole album.

According to an article written on Grateful Web, a popular music site, “Terra Firma sees Tash bare their soul on two levels. Spiritually, it arrived in a time of global detachment and acted as a conduit to reconnect to their core selves — something Tash had been dismissing during strenuous global tours. And musically, where its 14 tracks take root into far-reaching sonic territory.”

Their first album, “Flow State”, presented mesmerizing loops and layered jams, while the new album builds on that foundation and adds a medley of soul, funk, R&B, rock and hip-hop.

Right before their new album was released, Tash took to Instagram to share this important message with fans: “And so, it is almost time. I’ve been holding onto this for the last few months getting myself ready to let this belong to the world. The birth of a new era. I hope you can hear everything I have to say. Every cell, vessel, heartbeat and heart string I poured into this. Now it belongs to you. But before you begin, I have one request, for the very first time you hear this record I would like you to take yourself to a quiet space, turn off the lights, light a candle and light some incense - this was the intended listening experience of TERRA FIRMA. Sit back and enjoy the ride. I hope you can see who I am.”

So, next time you find yourself searching for something beautiful to listen to, look no further. Grab some candles, turn the lights down low, put on Terra Firma and prepare to be swept away with this wonderfully hypnotizing, soul-baring album.