Clickable / Various - Clickable [CD]

CLICKABLE: THE ART OF PERSUASION, from the celebrated duo of flutist Zara Lawler and marimbaist Paul J. Fadoul, is a concept album, an audio version of a live show that uses theatrical performance and audience participation to convey the many facets of persuasion - from powerful storytelling to coercion, pressure, and manipulation. The album includes commercial jingles, a lullaby, dust jacket texts set to music, a protest song, a serenade, and a spoken-word commentary on social media. Nowhere is persuasion more ubiquitous than in advertising. The lively tempo of Jingle Without Words nonverbally conveys that our drive towards innovation is also a relentless need for more. It is followed by the first of four Hedonistic Treadmill vignettes, told as a series of commercial breaks. Those pieces, interspersed throughout the album, together exhibit the fleeting happiness that results from chasing bright and shiny new products. The power of persuasion is also captured by the frantic pace of Want It. Need It. Have It, as Lawler's flute seems to be in pursuit of Fadoul's marimba, a chase that is musically indicative of our consumer-centric society. The album also features three dust jacket pieces that touch on the darker sides of persuasion. The bucolic music that accompanies the copy from the dust jacket of Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility belies the presentation of the book's tale of secrets, greed, and a dark undercurrent of societal pressures. The slightly ominous tone of the music that accompanies both Liars and Power Money Fame Sex typifies the baser sides of human nature. The spoken word piece Click. Tweet. Like. Repost. Is a rendition of a poem by Liza Jessie Peterson, which addresses the paradoxical aspects of social media. Unaccompanied by any instrumentation, the percussive cadence of the poet's words makes a powerful impact. Common Thread, which closes the album, was recorded live. A singalong with the audience, the track is a perfect example of a means of positive persuasion.