The right album can make even big transitions a little bit easier

It's been five months since I last wrote this column and left the mid-valley for my new home in northern Arizona.

Other than the move, not much has changed for me. The high altitude, monsoons and endless days of sunshine are treating me right in the Southwest, but my new home did take some getting use to.

Pump my own gas? Come on, get real, but I'm doing it anyway.

Wait, how much is the sales tax? My eyes bugged when the retail clerk told me.

Endless stream of '80s pop on the radio? Yes, it seems to be a theme for all the stations here.

I'm not really a fan of the synthesized, bubble-gum sound of retro pop that lands randomly between the current top 40 songs on the stations in northern Arizona. Instead, I prefer a "true" sound, the type of music you can pick out each note and know exactly which instrument created it; the type of music that twines with the soul and becomes a part of a person's music library for the rest of his or her life.

Singer/songerwriters have always had a home in my music library: greats like John Lennon, whose musical influence still touches the lives of even the newest generation of music lovers; Billy Joel (thanks to my mother); and John Mayer, who manages to capture so much life and philosophy in songs such as "Say" and "Waiting on the World to Change."

But even those greats don't get as much play time on my MP3 player as my favorite musician, Vancouver-B.C.-based Mark Hildreth.

Hildreth released his debut album, "Complex State of Attachment," this summer.

I've loved Hildreth's music since the first time I heard it on his Web site four years ago in its rawest form: Just him and the piano, recorded on his equipment or from a live performance.

If I had to describe his music then, it would have centered around one word, blues. Sometimes sad, but always soulful, his early music reflected everyday life and could be related to on a personal level.

I had expected a good first album, having seen Hildreth live numerous times, and heard the live versions of half of the songs on "Complex."

A man with his piano is grand, but the vision Hildreth created with producer Warne Livesey far exceeded my expectations. In fact, Hildreth managed to floor me with the scope of his creation.

Gone is that trace of sadness I once found in his lyrics and sound. In its place is a complex look at love and life, and an ideology of living to the fullest. In fact, the album title is based on something the Dalai Lama once said about love - that it is "a complex state of attachment" - and Hildreth has succeeded in creating a compilation that reflects that ideology.

Hildreth has won several awards for his songwriting, including The 2006 Singer Songwriter Awards and the Billboard World Song Contest. His song "Magic Spell" was also nominated for the L.A. Music Awards this year before the album was even released.

To discover Hildreth's complete vision, you'll have to listen to the entire album, but I do have to recommend "It's My Life" as a place to start. I listen to it on days when life is a little rough and I feel a little homesick. It helps remind me of my reasons for striking out and starting over in a place without friends or family.

I also recommend "You In Me," "Magic Spell" and the song that has remained my favorite for four years, "Ready to Fall."

To learn more about Hildreth and hear clips of "Complex State of Attachment," visit www.markhildreth.com. Copies of the album are available at cdbaby.com/cd/markhildreth2.

Heather Crabtree can be reached at heather.crabtree@lee.net.