Reviews …
Excerpts from the full independent review of our Optim-M-mystix album:
http://sleepingbagstudios.ca/philosofree-optimysts-singles/
- “I can’t imagine I’d ever forget hearing this highly creative band for the first time. Because they’ve stood out, through everything I’ve heard with bold creativity and immensely innovative tunes that are no doubt able to impact your ears just as much as they did mine today. For me personally, that all leads to a truly memorable experience with measurable impact made through the music…and the sampling of these five tunes made it so that I wanted to hear more of what they were up to. And so of course, I did by checking out the rest of the record.”
- “A song called “Fragrances” is about as versatile as a song can be. Truly entertaining and seriously unique…you’re not apt to find many songs or sounds like this out there right now…and I can certainly appreciate that. The creative and innovative melody and subtle-rhythms that drive “Fragrances” are absolutely different than at least 99% of your playlists…and I’m hoping our readers still have the same wonderful attitudes they’ve always had…and that they continue to check out the beautifully unique avenues that inventive minds like this will lead them down. “Fragrances” has all the personality you can fit into a single song…”
- “The opening vocals are completely awesome…I’m thinking that’s Philosofree with the massive growl & rasp combination that’s VERY Zappa-esque. Many people will get that sound confused for Tom Waits in this scenario…but they’d be wrong – that’s 110% Zappa in its sound and intentions.”
Jer@SBS, SleepingBagStudiosI love the variety – this album rocks!
I was the professional photographer for this album and it was such fun to be involved.
At the time I predicted that “Plasticup” would be a hit, and I hold to that!
Questions Answered…
The song writer for this album has the same number of years experience as Paul McCartney, and has written a similar number of songs, with as broad a range of styles. (Philosofree has 4 albums and has written over 250 songs!)
Sam also leads another band, the European Stars.
Manuela is the female singer of the group, though Mirian sang the lead vocals for the album.
Lyrics are all available on the BandCamp site. Here is a sample:
Collect each drop of your dreams / from your soul they flow in streams
Life holds more than gold / more than being young or old
We, will, never give up, catch all our dreams, put them in a plasticup
When, we, need lif-ting up, just take a sip, you can taste the sweet in it…
Here are some connections if you like genre labels (we prefer variety! 🙂
Genres (if you care about knowing which tracks are which!)
Hot AC: All the tracks
Soul: 02 Soul Doubt
Rock: 10 You are My Inspiration, 09 Afloat on Red Water
Blues: 07 Nothing is stopping Me. 04 Judgmental Blues
Country: 01 Arms of Love, 05 Zirconium Band
Pop: 11 Plasticup, 02 Optimistic, 06 Gratitude
Jazz: 08 Green Light
Soft Rock: 12 Fragrances
Alternative: 06 Gratitude, 11 Plasticup
Roots/Folk: 04 Judgemental Blues, 05 Zirconium Band
Have a listen to the start of this track:
Life is so friggin’ good, and we want to share it via our music.
The album name is pronounced like optimum mystics, and the group name is Optimysts, get it! haha!
This is the title track:
The range of different things that the group has done is amazing, from acting to armed forces, sales to portrait art, music teaching to leading a software company. (and these are just a few samples!)
Philosofree even caught this one by hand!
And Sam was leading a band when he was 15 years old!
Abundant Life!
You can navigate through the album using the next previous buttons 
above:
If you want to change the volume of the audio, adjust your computer or phone’s volume.
Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!
Cool Facts about the album.
Mind the Gap!
This is for all ages, though with distinct adult themes.The participants in the album range from 10 to 65, and everyone loves the outcome!
The youngest singers sang on the title track, “Optimistic”. We challenge you not to smile when you hear this track! Look through rose coloured glasses!
Subtle, but sexy, have a listen to the lyrics on “Afloat on Red Water” and “Green Light”. Life is meant to be good = fun and meaningful!
Fully CAN-CON!
MAPL compliantFully CAN-CON, recorded at Iguana Studios in Toronto
This album meets all the Canadian Content MAPL criterion; namely- M (music): the music is composed entirely by a Canadian resident, Phil ‘Philosofree’ Cheney (Toronto)
- A (artist): the music is, or the lyrics are, performed entirely by Canadians
- P (performance): the musical selection consists of a live performance that is
- recorded wholly in Canada, at Iguana Studios in Toronto
- L (lyrics): the lyrics are written entirely by a Canadian resident, Phil ‘Philosofree’ Cheney (Toronto)
Interesting fact, Philosofree was born in Australia!
Different Vocal pyrotechnics!
Both female and male lead vocals are significantly differentThe vocals are fragrant!
Mirian’s soaring female voice contrasts with Philosofree’s distinctive Grover (remember from the Muppets!) voice.However the range of vocal qualities is more than just numbers of octaves, it also is the quality and resonance, as you will hear in “Fragrances”, which was written by the inspiration of Philosofree’s wife, Manuela, who is an aromatherapist.
Philosofree is also an author
and a poet, an accomplished speaker and motivator/coach!Experience shows...
The song writer for all of the songs on the album, Philosofree is also a poet and the author of 8 books, an accomplished speaker and loves to do stone masonry! You can visit his website philcheney.com to learn more, view his art and read some poems.
Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!
This album was produced at Iguana Studios in Toronto; listen to all the tracks NOW!
(Twelve full tracks are available now for streaming from this page, or on philosofree.Bandcamp.com for purchase and download)
You can order a physical copy of the CD from either Paypal or Credit Card.
Shipping to anywhere in the world! Click graphic for purchase option:
