Heather has a lot to say, and her album ‘Be The Change’ struck me as a bit of a hippy odyssey; most of it is forgiveness, peace, love and understanding without reverting to the romantic love song fallbacks. The cover is even a bit of a giveaway, showing Heather on a lotus leaf (I assume) doing some mantra thing. There’s some chanting and some thumb cymbals – apart from the production quality, this album would have easily fit into the the late 60’s/early 70’s hippie movement.
So then when she launches into a bit of an angsty vegan protest song, it really stood out for me. Now I’ll never be a vegan or even a vegetarian, but I respect the resolve of people who make life choices based on their beliefs. The musicality of the song itself is quite funky, a little swampy, and she’s accentuated the angry bits with a distorted radio filter on her voice. contrasting with a minor feel for a chorus about looking into the eyes of the animals about to be slaughtered to produce more food than we can consume. The song then finishes up with a contrasting boppy outtro about “can we live in harmony”. I don’t know if there’s a film clip to this song, but I’m sure the song would finish with lots of tie-dye-clothed people with no shoes running through a meadow singing along.
So this song may not be everybody’s cup of (chamomile) tea, but I liked it for the way she was able to put her message across without sounding self-important. And I like the music.
Heather Frahn has a lot to say, and she says it with music. She is one of these positive, bubbly people who makes you feel better by just being.