A World Within a World

ALBUMS

INFO

Raul Midon follows up State of Mind, his critically acclaimed debut, with A World Within A World. The record opens with the uplifting acoustic R&B track “Pick Someone Up” and jumps from doo-wop ("Ain't Happened Yet") to modern urban ("All Because of You"), Latin ("Caminando"), pop ("The More That I Know") and folk ("Tembererena").

For this record, recorded after the death of the elder Mardin, Midon and Joe Mardin tightened the focus, with Joe laying down the grooves and playing additional instruments behind Midon's vocals and guitar parts on the majority of the tracks. "Like his father, Joe is a producer in the old-school sense of the word," says Midon. "He's interested in how a record sounds; he can do arrangements and conduct an orchestra-which he did on 'Pick Somebody Up.' Joe brought the value of making an album to the project, as opposed to just a collection of songs."

This is not your average pop record-not by a long shot. With A World Within a World, Midon has fashioned an album that is at once audacious and accessible, of the moment and suffused with history; it's personal yet universal, uncompromising yet inviting. This is that rare sort of pop album that could actually make a difference, and as such, it stands right alongside the pivotal works of the artists who inspired it.