RuthyAnn Mandell - “Key of Light”

Song Review by KIAC's The A&R Guy

One would have to be stone-cold dead not to feel the joy of life and spirituality and music that lives in RuthyAnn Mandell’s soul and that flows passionately through her veins. I only know of RuthyAnn what I read, hear and see, but as well as loving it all more and more, it is patently clear that she is deeply driven toward the monumental task of seeing the world become a peaceful and better place and planet and in playing whatever part and role that she can in making a personal contribution toward that goal. Her poetry and music stand out as her calling card in that regard and both are permeating. And there’s no mistaking her commitment and determination in getting to where she’s going, witness the credits of the professionals that she has surrounded herself with on “Key of Light” and that have been instrumental in placing her in the fast-forward mode on this great musical highway – perhaps even in the passing lane.

I remember being in Adelaide Australia in the late 1980’s and being taken to a nightclub for a never-to-be-forgotten evening of seductive joie-de-vivre. Walking through the door and being cleared for entry by a couple of muscle-bound futuristic neo-Neanderthal type specimens of what I presumed belonged to the homo sapiens species (a description fringing perhaps on exaggeration – not by much though), that I immediately recognized as knowing that I didn’t want to argue with, I suddenly felt light years away and ahead of the outside world and night that I had just come in from. The picture of young and excitingly beautiful lithesome bodies lost in the pulsating beat of the moment burned a lasting image and impression on my eyes and in my mind. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t standing on the edge of a celestial disco floor in the Millennium Falcon with Hans Solo DJ-ing and Chewbacca manning the sound and lights. Listening to “Key of Light” and watching RuthyAnn’s video of the song puts me in that same ‘Adelaide’ dimension and state of mind.

The almost twenty-five second cathartic movie theme-like orchestral intro floats effortlessly into an upbeat swinging disco groove that feeds on and rides the crest of those endless waves that RuthyAnn speaks about, clearing the path for her to sing and dance her way all the way from that “elegant aura of the days of disco” that still echo and vibrate within her with her every heartbeat, into the “afterglow” of the new beginning on the wings of the nirvana supernova.

Great intro, a perfect fusion of electronic synthesized disco sound, galvanizing and emphatic piano accents, powerful and soaring gorgeous vocals, great lyrics, catchy hook, awesome guitar solo (all instruments played by Owen Brown), top-notch engineering and mastering, all complete with RuthyAnn’s enthusiasm and exuberance – infectious and contagious, giving us what music writer Piero Scaruffi has described as the “collective ecstasy” of disco – nonpareil here. Certainly with no intention or thought of being cheesy, and with the greatest respect to the incomparable Beach Boys, “Key of Light’ is one ‘where I want to go, Kokomo,’ disco delightful taste of freedom music. It gets better every time I listen to it. To paraphrase RuthyAnn, the song is ‘waving music into life’, and like Le Moulin Rouge – ‘Formidable’