Review of "The Human Footprint" - Artillio Bergholtz published November 22nd 2020!

 

Artillio Bergholtz, chairman and founder of the Swedish association The Beatles Information Center, founded in 1973. He has always been interested in music of various kinds, although his favorite group has always been, and still is, The Beatles. He works with daily information about the group's music in the association's magazine Beatles Nytt (Beatles News) as well as on the association's website www.beatlesnytt.se, and he also follows the deeds and doings of the solo Beatles in the field of music.



Armand Gutheim ft. The Feel Harmonic Rockestra -
The Human Footprint

The album The Human Footprint contains no less than 21 tracks with a total run time of 1 hour and 14 minutes. Of these, six tracks are vocal while the others are instrumental, sometimes with elements of voices without any actual text.

The Human Footprint, humanity's footprint on Earth, is in its entirety an album that wants to make us aware of what we, as humans, do to our planet - both now and what it can lead to for future generations, which is clearly reflected in both lyrics and music.

Armand Gutheim has tied together the album by calling the opening track Sunrise and the closing track Sunset.

In between, the music and the titles oscillate between hope and despair regarding what has happened, and still is, with our planet and its climate. Straight forward titles such as Poisoned Waters, Toxic Nightmare, Reduced Nature, Complete Trash, Insidious Sunburn, Commercial Vacuum, Dangerous Power Plant, Hidden Chemicals, Military Waste, Child Victims and Temperature Increase clearly show Armand's views on the acute situation for our existence on Earth, and which of course he also wants the listener to take note of and take a stand on.

The introductory track is giving us hope for the future of the Earth, and based on the ninth cloud (Being On Cloud 9) we are able to feel happy, as we at the same time look down on our planet and realize its vulnerability, which is what the song's content wants to point out.

Fortunately, this is not a doomsday record, and the album ends with three tracks of positive hope, despite all the warning bells ringing about the state of the Earth. Alternative Futures, an instrumental track that wants to convey the opportunities we still have to control our behavior when it comes to managing our only planet, Breathe Out Tonight with lyrics about all the beauty that actually exist in life, and Sunset which is an instrumental track with a calm piano which is built on with strings, bass, gentle percussion and brilliant saxophone.

It's obvious that The Human Footprint contains a lot of music with many different sounds and tempos, when one notes what the multi-instrumentalist Armand himself actually can treat, but also the interesting instrumental contributions from others; Armand Gutheim is responsible for the album's theme, music, lyrics, recording, mixing, and production in its entirety. He is also responsible for the lead vocals, various backing vocals, voices of various kinds, various keyboards, acoustic and electric guitar, fretless bass, percussion, drums and various sound effects. But not to forget, he has had the help of several very talented musicians and singers such as Hans Müller on acoustic and electric double bass, solo guitar, cello,
Jew's-harp and percussion, Yvan Auzely with the full range of different saxophones, Santiago Jimenez Borges on violin and Charlotte Assarsson on vocals, backing vocals and percussion.

In addition to this musical work, there are five newly produced and interesting videos to watch on YouTube: What A Marvelous World, Breathe Out Tonight, Mother Earth, What About The Human Footprint? and Being On Cloud 9. Here I get the impression that Armand and his wife Charlotte can very much be compared to the world-famous couple John and Yoko Lennon. Both in terms of their message of peace and the caution with the climate, but also with their clear presence in the various videos. Armand has clearly developed his skill in the art of producing videos that reflect both the music and the lyrics making it easy for the viewer to absorb the current message.

In summary, this is a great and well-worked creation filled with music, lyrics and video productions. The run time of about 75 minutes also means that Armand has been able to use the music in a multifaceted way with variations in tempo, volume and not least in terms of different sounds. Not to be forgotten is the many different styles of music who are mixed here; jazz, oriental music, hard rock, film music, blues, classical music, experimental music, pop, Indian music and industrial music just to name a few genres that is included in this musical work.

Favorite pieces: Sunrise, What About The Human Footprint?, Mother Earth, Dangerous Power Plant, Breathe Out Tonight and Sunset
 
 

 
Most welcome to visit The Beatles Information Center's website!
Listen to The Human Footprint on Spotify, iTunes or Deezer!



Article in the online newspaper Food & Climate - Stefan B Nilsson published October 28th 2020!


The Human Footprint - musical journey on risks and opportunities








Stefan B Nilsson
/editor-in-chief Food & Climate

 

 

 The album is about the state of the planet, awareness of the environment,
climate, nature and how we treat life on earth

 

The climate and environmental crisis and humans' ongoing enormous footprint on the planet are becoming a more common theme for artists and cultural workers. The recently released album "The Human Footprint" by versatile Armand Gutheim and The Feel Harmonic Rockestra is a good example of that when it comes to music.

 

Music in the era of the climate crisis

Armand Gutheim himself has written the music and lyrics on this concept album, which is available on Spotify, iTunes and other streaming services. The album is an exciting musical journey. Music in particular is an underestimated means of highlighting the seriousness of the impending environmental and climate crisis, and Gutheim is succeeding well. In addition to Armand Gutheim, also Hans Müller, Charlotte Assarsson, Yvan Auzely and others are participating.

The album is just over an hour long, with a total of 21 tracks, of which five are vocal. Armand Gutheim's music has a large content of electronics and musicals and is clearly influenced by progressive rock (groups such as Yes and Alan Parsons Project). The Feel Harmonic Rockestra uses ingenious and varied synthesizers in the music and to illustrate tracks with names such as: Urban Adventures, Poisoned Waters, Reduced Nature, Temperature Increase and Alternative Futures.


According to Armand Gutheim, there are great risks but also extensive opportunities
in the fateful times we are now facing.

 

- The album is about the state of the planet, awareness of the environment, climate, nature and how we treat life on earth. That's why it's called The Human Footprint. You can compare the album with a stage show, with action, message, tone and color. I have strived for a kind of balance - the situation humanity is in involves great risks, but there are also opportunities to actually influence in a positive direction, he explains to Food & Climate.

 

What about the Human footprint? 


Shortly after the album was released, Armand and The Feel Harmonic Rockestra also released five follow-up music videos on Youtube and all other social media. Two of the videos are called What About The Human Footprint? and Being On Cloud 9.


You can listen to the album and watch the videos on Armand Gutheim's website and Youtube channel.


/Stefan B. Nilsson 


Feel free to visit the online magazine Food & Climate on www.matochklimat.nu.