“Sessions” by Cedric Noel

I can’t explain the feeling I get when Cedric Noel starts singing on his new single, “Sessions.” It begins with a tingle at the nap of my neck before the nerves start firing as Noel’s tenderly plucked guitar pulls a soft melody out of the ether and then blooms into a full-on cascade of mini fireworks that make their way down my spine when his distinctive croon cautiously reintroduces Noel after a two-year absence of new music since Hang Time. 

I wouldn’t consider “Sessions” a reset, but Noel acknowledges that the song (the first release from his own imprint, Front Porch Records) marks a shift in musical direction and lyrical content. “I wanted to move on to writing songs with more ornate arrangements that could be held in a more intimate, delicate space,” he says, which he archives on his latest song with support from collaborators Lisa Conway-Bühler (of L CON, who contributes vocals), Tim Crabtree (of Paper Beat Scissors who adds mellow clarinet), and Mike Belyea (who plays with Jenn Grant and Jennah Barry and lays down a bed of soft percussion). 

Regardless of any kind of reset, there is a distinctive Cedric Noel-like quality to “Sessions” that makes it instantly recognizable as his work. Its mild, seductive tempo belies Noel’s quiet intensity. I feel tension building with each inhale; even moments of silence in the arrangement are pregnant with anticipation. Those feelings of tension, uncertainty, and expectation are most likely the source of all the chills, tingles, and explosions “Sessions” set off in me, and I am more than happy to submit.

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