Murmurs, Patrick Lee Hebert’s third solo piano album is, for the most part, a quiet and introspective journey through the deepest thoughts and emotions of a maturing artist and poet. Where Hebert’s poetry tends to be extremely dark, his musical compositions never seem to hit a point of desperation. There is a lot of searching and yearning, but much of his music is on the gentle, contemplative side, and many of his pieces are dedicated to loved ones. The collection opens with “Another Early Autumn”, a prelude to set the mood. The title track has an accompanying poem in the liner notes about a deep, dark dream of lost souls and whispers in the night. “Serenity” was composed for Hebert’s wife, Caroline, and is full of grace, peace, and love - a very beautiful piece. “Hazes” is a bit more turbulent. Hebert has written a book of poetry with the same title, and I’ve read quite a few of the poems, many of which are full of conflicting emotions, pain, and even anger. This piece very accurately represents my interpretation of Hebert’s poems with a broad range of feelings. This one and the closing track, “Fantasy in G Minor” are “big” pieces in comparison with the other more tranquil works, offering us a full picture of Hebert’s composing and playing range. “Anticipation” is a sweet little song written while waiting for birth of Hebert’s son. The melody could easily go into a music box. I also really like “Soul Search”, which is very rubato and seems much less structured than most of the other songs. As the title suggests, this is another look inward, putting the search to music - one of my favorites of Hebert’s pieces.

Patrick Hebert is a young artist who continues to grow and evolve artistically. I really liked “The Poet’s Dream”, but Murmurs is even better. Highly recommended! It is available from highlandpiano.net as well as amazon.com and cdbaby.com.