by Jane Lambert

VIDEO VOYAGEUR: 3 Q’s WITH MASSEY

When MASSEY unleashed his blistering new single “BOOKIN’” it immediately felt like more than just another funk-rock cut.

Co-written with longtime friend and guitarist Charlie Lerant, “BOOKIN'” explodes with blues rock riffs as it tells the story of two lovers racing toward each other and towards tragedy. It’s full throttle passion and heartbreak set to music, a rush of guitars, horns and syncopated rhythms that makes you feel the chase in your bones.

But MASSEY’s vision didn’t stop at the audio. To bring “BOOKIN’” to life visually, he turned to fine artist Lionel Thomas, a painter he has admired for years and who created the artwork for his upcoming debut album Reason for Being.

Thomas’s decision to hand draw each frame of the “BOOKIN’” video in manga style animation is virtually unheard of today. The result is an action drama that mirrors the intensity of the track – a woman on a train, a man in a car, villains, storms, battles and, at the heart of it all, a love story barreling toward a cliff.

We caught up with MASSEY to talk about how “BOOKIN’” was born, and how Lionel Thomas transformed one of MASSEY’s most intense songs into a rare, hand drawn visual experience.

Watch the Official Music Video:

1.Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

As the lyric writer and singer, as soon as my collaborator on this one, the amazing guitar player Charlie Lerant played each lick, hook and attack of the guitar part he wrote, I knew what this song was about: full-throttle, possessed passion, two people drawn like high powered magnets yet forced to chase, forced to race, towards inevitable catastrophe.

And the first word that came immediately to mind, for the title, and the chorus hook: BOOKIN’!

The general story or arc of the song came to me quickly from there, and the lyrics rolled from the story board I built in my mind.

2. What was the inspiration behind this new video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

Well, the video was the complete work of the visionary fine artist Lionel Thomas.

His paintings are one of a kind. I have been a fan, patron, and owner of his work for more than 5 years. We brought him on to paint the commissioned cover of the soon-to-be-released MASSEY debut album, Reason For Being, dropping in a few weeks on October 24th.

And we were so blown away by the album cover he painted, that we commissioned Lionel, once again, to create what is pretty much unheard of in this moment: a hand drawn manga anime music video for the entire 2 minutes and 44 seconds of BOOKIN’!

I knew he would do the most fabulous job, and gave him free reign to conceptualize, storyboard and present the story he felt matched the energy. So, as Lionel explained to me, he quickly started seeing the story, with story-board outlines in his mind’s eye: – an over-the-top action film, ala Mission Impossible. There’s a train, a heroine, a villain and a hero racing down the highway to catch them.

The heroine fights, the hero races …

They ultimately embrace …

Yet it doesn’t end well …

3. What was the process of making the video?

As it was described to me by Lionel, his conceptualizing of the video was similar to how, as soon as I heard the music from my songwriting partner, Charle Lerant, I felt what the song was about, and then wrote the lyrics.

Lionel told me, after a couple listens to the song, he knew the story he wanted to tell. He saw a Mission-Impossible like action adventure plot line, with a woman as the hero, done in a Japanese manga animation style.

From that vision, he drew more and more detailed storyboards. He presented a draft of a segment, to be sure we liked his progress. Yet we wanted more story development.

After drawing it out more, we worked to be sure the action was syncing with the drama of the music and attack of the song. The result was better than we could have imagined! A masterpiece final product, with classic cinematic-style credits, too! We are out of our mind in love with Lionel’s work, merging the drama of the song with a visual extravaganza, matching and enhancing that drama.

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Keep up with MASSEY on his Website

Stream music on Spotify and Apple Music now!

05.31.25

by Jane Lambert

Reeya Banerjee Looks Back with Latest Single “For the First Time”

Reeya Banerjee’s latest single For the First Time is a quietly stunning ballad that peels back the layers of love, memory and selfhood with grace and vulnerability.

As the second release from her upcoming album called This Place, the track stands apart as the emotional anchor of the record – a moment of stillness and clarity that reflects on a transformative chapter in the artist’s life.

The song unravels like a letter written years after the fact, soaked in the bittersweet glow of hindsight. At its center, For the First Time is a love song – not only to a partner, but to the version of oneself that emerges in the right place at the right time.

That place, in Banerjee’s case, is the Hudson Valley’s Mohonk Mountain House. It’s a historic and slightly surreal resort tucked high into the Shawangunk Ridge. It’s not just the setting, but a kind of co-star in the story, embodying both the eccentricity and emotional grounding that shaped her early adulthood.

Banerjee’s vocals are tender and unadorned, and she sings each line with clarity. With a warmth in her tone that balances out the melancholy of memories and the comfort of knowing just how far she’s come.

For the First Time is co-written and produced by Luke Folger, and it is an outlier on This Place. It’s a ballad amid more uptempo tracks, and yet it feels like the heart of the album. Folger’s instrumentation is rich in texture – shimmering guitar lines, subtle background harmonies and open, airy production that evokes starlit nights in the Catskills.

Lyrically, this song is packed with subtle emotion. It evokes the quiet revelations that define young adulthood: learning to love someone while still figuring out how to love yourself, finding home in a place you never expected, discovering a new version of your voice in the midst of gravel paths and gossip filled dining halls. It’s a coming-of-age story told not in big moments, but in the slow accumulation of small, meaningful ones.

In many ways, For the First Time feels like the spiritual successor to “Need You There,” a fan favorite from Banerjee’s debut The Way Up. But where that track reached upward with longing, this one looks inwards with a calm recognition. It hums softly in the background of thoughts, reminding you of the place and people who shaped you and the person you were brave enough to become.

Find out more about Reeya Banerjee on her Website

Stream music on Spotify and YouTube Music

05.29.25

by Jane Lambert

Pete Calandra’s Latest Album “Night Mist” is a Tonic for the Modern Mind

Pete Calandra’s latest release Night Mist is an album that doesn’t shout to be heard. It simply waits, patiently to be felt.

This eleven track collection is steeped in quietude, unfolding with the elegance of falling dusk and the emotional gravity of late-night introspection.

As both a skilled pianist and prolific composer across Broadway, film and television, Calandra brings a rare blend of technical finesse and emotional restraint to this work. It’s one that feels like a much needed breather in an overstimulated world.

Listen here:

The pieces on Night Mist are deceptively simple. On the surface, they present as minimal piano compositions touched by ambient textures and occasional soft orchestrations. But underneath that lies an exquisite sense of pacing and purpose. Tracks like “Whispers of the Dawn” and “The Heart of Mount Seleya” operate like emotional landscapes: sparse yet vivid, introspective yet expansive. And it is Calandra’s restraint, the space between notes, that becomes its own kind of melody.

What makes this album resonate so strongly is its consistency in tone without ever becoming over repetitive.

Each track brings a new shade of the same emotional spectrum. “Peaceful Valley” introduces cinematic string beds that evoke a pastoral calm, while “Autumn Nights” leans into the warmth of a felted piano to conjure a deeply intimate sense of place.

The ambient title track, “Night Mist” blends light electronics with improvisational phrasing, perfectly capturing the album’s thesis — serenity in the unknown.

Though best known to some for his work behind the scenes, including more than 100 film scores and music for global events like the FIFA World Cup and Kennedy Center Honors, Pete Calandra’s voice as a solo artist has become increasingly distinct over the last decade.

Night Mist builds on the aesthetic developed in ambient-forward albums like First Light and Carpe Noctem, but it lands with much more maturity and emotional clarity.

In an era defined by speed, distraction and technology burnout, Night Mist feels like a defiant gesture — an insistence on presence, on listening slowly, on valuing space.

It’s not just a collection of music, but also a gentle journey inward.

Connect with Peter Calandra via:

Website / YouTube / Spotify / Soundcloud

05.12.25

by Jane Lambert

“Save the World” by Madame Z – A Hymn of Hope in the Face of Planetary Despair

In a world overwhelmed by environmental catastrophe, humanitarian crises and collective heartbreak, Madame Z emerges with a brand new single that’s as musically gripping as it is emotionally necessary.

Called “Save the World,” the single was released intentionally on Earth Day, 20th April, and it’s a powerful, aching anthem that channels personal grief into a global plea for unity, compassion and action.

Listen here:

It opens with a haunting and sparse arrangement that immediately places the listener in a contemplative space.

There’s a steady, pulsing undercurrent, like a a heartbeat, that anchors the track from the start, a subtle metaphor for the planet’s own fragile rhythm. Madame Z’s voice enters with clarity and conviction, rich with emotional texture. And it’s the vocals that elevate everything – a soulful delivery, blending vulnerability and strength into each line. This is not performative pain, but a lived experience transformed into melody.

Written during a time of profound personal overwhelm, the song grapples with the heavy realities of genocide, war, famine, ecological collapse and the slow poisoning of the earth’s most basic life sources: air, water and soil.

But rather than becoming mired in despair, Madame Z creates something rare. It’s a protest song that is simultaneously a mantra for survival. “Save the World” is steeped in sorrow, yes, but it is also a vessel for change.

The song strikes a good balance between introspection and uplift – its layered instrumentation with guitar, atmospheric keys and percussion has a tribal feel and builds gradually, creating a sense of momentum. By the time the chorus fully blooms, the listener is immersed.

But “Save the World” is not just a general statement. It is also intimate. Madame Z is able to make something deeply political feel personal. It’s as if you are listening in on a whispered conversation between her and the earth, or between her and her own soul.

For those who know Madame Z’s earlier work, particularly her debut album ”Down the Rabbit Hole”, this track continues her signature style – unflinching emotional honesty, poetic lyrics and a commitment to turning lived experience into a form of healing.

Her background as a fierce advocate for women’s stories, especially through deeply personal tracks like “Unwanted”, is present here as well reminding us that caring for the earth and caring for each other are deeply connected acts.

In an intense political and cultural moment filled, “Save the World” is a song that cuts through the noise.

Keep up with Madame Z on her Website

Stream music on Spotify and Apple Music

03.07.25

by Jane Lambert

Michael Gutierrez-May’s “Light Still Shines The Same” is a Bold Exploration of Personal and Social Identity

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Michael Gutierrez-May’s “Light Still Shines The Same“ is an album that takes listeners on a rich and multi-layered journey, intertwining personal stories with the universal.

From poignant reflections on loss and love to razor-sharp critiques of historical and societal structures, Gutierrez-May’s latest work proves that he is as much a storyteller as he is a musician.

These 12 tracks span a broad emotional range from the somber to the satirical , and represent a mature step forward in his musical evolution.

Listen here:

In the opening track “Destiny,” he contrasts the concept of fate with the notion of free will, telling the story of a woman overcoming adversity and forging her own path. The arrangement is lush and layered, bringing a sense of empowerment.

Title track “Light Still Shines The Same” opens the album with an exploration of colonialism’s aftermath. Focusing specifically on the violent conflict between Native Americans and colonizers in 17th-century Massachusetts, Gutierrez-May sets the tone with a haunting acoustic guitar riff and lyrical imagery that calls for reflection on a history of exploitation that still shapes modern life. It’s a chilling and evocative start.

Equally powerful is “Five Twenty Four,” a delicate ballad that captures the raw sorrow of losing a beloved pet. There’s a quiet, almost meditative quality to the song that allows the pain of loss to resonate deeply. What sets Gutierrez-May apart as a songwriter is his ability to take personal experiences – like the passing of a pet – and transform them into universally relatable anthems of grief and healing. The track’s stripped-back arrangement with soft piano and subtle strings, amplifies the emotion, making it one of the album’s standout moments.

The album’s strength lies in its versatility, as Gutierrez-May deftly moves between humor, introspection, and social commentary. “Apology Song,” for instance, is an acoustic confession to a past lover, filled with self-deprecating humor and earnest regret. The simplicity of the song makes the lyrics even more poignant, and his vulnerability shines through as he exposes the imperfections of human relationships.

Meanwhile, the album is not without its lighter moments. “Hello I Must Be Going” is a delightful nod to Groucho Marx’s signature comedic style. The tongue-in-cheek lyrics and upbeat rhythm offer a refreshing contrast to the more introspective tracks on the album.

Similarly, “Marijuana Gummy Bears Picnic” is a warped take on the childhood classic “Teddy Bears Picnic,” showing Gutierrez-May’s sense of playful absurdity. It’s quirky, unexpected, and wholly entertaining.

Gutierrez-May’s storytelling abilities truly come to life on tracks like “When Dawn Comes To The City”, a somber meditation on sleepless nights with his vocals taking on a dreamy, almost resigned quality as he describes the struggle to find peace in the midst of restlessness.

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Produced by Stephen B. Martin and engineered by Joe Clapp, “Light Still Shines The Same” is sonically polished with a mix of folk, indie rock and world music influences that give the album a rich, expansive feel.

What’s most striking about this albue is its ability to blend deeply personal reflection with a broader social consciousness. Whether commenting on historical injustices, exploring the nuances of human relationships or just offering a moment of levity, Gutierrez-May’s writing is always thoughtful and engaging. It’s an album that asks big questions while never losing sight of the smaller, intimate moments that make life worth living.

In a musical landscape where artists often veer towards either heavy introspection or broad social commentary, Gutierrez-May finds a way to balance both, creating an album that is at once expansive and deeply personal.

Find out more about Michael Gutierrez-May on his Website