Music: Saroon & Isabeau Waia’u Walker

Ayal’s latest offering is a record made during the global pandemic. This Is Not The End Times I Was Promised is a record of songs that all had their origin at the vibrant community of the Laurelthirst Public House Open Mic, a weekly open mic that encourages its members to be actively creating by giving a new songwriting prompt each week. With each song conceived in such specific moments, this record viscerally captures the tenor of the time between Fall 2019 and the Summer of 2020, reflecting the chaotic events of history and cycles of the inner and outer worlds. It begins free spirited, with a traveling song (In A Prism) written after arriving home from tour, which includes a sort of life thesis: “You’re never too old to live a life you guided, never too young to try. You’re never so strong that you can rely on only the strength inside, we need other people sometimes”. The songs go inward, exploring the nature of the self (The Jungle), the blissful/relentless flow of existence (Black Hole), the projection of the self onto others in intimacy (Pebble and Lyle) and a call for all individuals to work on themselves to create a life and culture they truly value and want to exist in (Show Me Who You Are). Then a pandemic hit the globe and all expectations for how life was to move forward were shattered (Mundane, This Is Not The End Times I Was Promised) as systems burst open and a social revolution took hold (Seeds Scattered In The Spring). So here we are. See the seam between your future and the dream. Feel the feeling, connected and alone. The muse is always watching.

Remembering the name Isabeau Waia’u Walker won’t be as hard as you think. Her sound is the sweet collision of breathtaking honesty, soulful journeying, and spiritual seeking. The groove of her rhythms and the swell of her poetic expression come like the waves on her native isle of Maui. On the parts of that island that no tourist ever sees, Isabeau grew up finding solace and freedom in playing her guitar and putting to words to the beauty and chaos of a hapa haole adolescence, then early adulthood, and right on into the sweet and wild unknown of now. There’s heartache and longing, passion and love, tension and peace in her lyrics and her melodies cross the lines of culture and delve into dirt and treasure of human experience, emotion, and dreams. She’s different and you’ll feel it.
Although her name may be new to most, she is well seasoned and rich in experience as she has been sharing her music in person and online for the last 15 years. A once teacher moonlighting as an indie musician, after a decade in education, this last year she took the mighty leap into full time music and joined the eclectic indie folk band Y La Bamba on tour. Now Isabeau has ventured out to record a solo album with the help of her band mate and sound engineer, Ryan Oxford.

Isabeau found The Center for Sound, Light and Color Therapy an ideal space to give her songs their proper treatment and the added dimensions she was looking for. Collaborating with Nick Dewitt and Andrew Jones and their instruments, she is bringing her heart and the weight of all she carries with her right to your listening ears, so get ready to be honored and delighted.

** Currently, this is scheduled not as a public event, but a live stream from the outdoor stage at The Sou’wester (weather permitting). If you are a guest staying with us, the show may be audible. *