Lisa Bella Donna - The World She Wanted

Behind The Sky is proud to present our 13th release, an exquisite and personal journey from a singular and otherworldly master musician, Lisa Bella Donna. Since the first listen, these songs have only increased in emotional depth and complexity, each one a doorway into another world. We invite you to step through and open your heart to new ways of listening as you are touched by the beauty and grace of this album.

"The world she wanted was written and recorded shortly after I decided to leave the city and move out into the quiet countrysides of the Appalachian Mountains. It was a definitive and beautiful time to build a new foundation and allow for unfolding musical inspirations to bear new fruit in a new, everlasting environment. Initially, I composed "The world she wanted" with the intentions of never releasing it. I just wanted to create a very open, personal, self-portrait of sound and light with these pieces.

It's quite possibly my most revealing album I've ever recorded. I feel the best art comes from when the artist truly stands naked in the manifestation of their craft as it unravels from the core of our most personal intentions.

This music is a very intimate experience for me. It's very far removed from repertoire or recital. It is the ritual and resonant circulation of many previous chapters of challenge and change. It's a tone poem of prayer and gratitude of having another chance to manifest and reveal harvests in the gardens of a new life. For I am truly grateful and inspired to witness and be present in this chapter of my life.

These compositions are finger paintings of such a plethora of deep feelings, desires, and dreams I continue to witness become real. It's amazing how our attitudes and horizons can change when we let go and get out of our own way. To simply return to the wilderness of who we are. To traject beyond the resurgence of the human condition. This is private music... until now... After some family & friends heard some of these playbacks floating through the open windows of my home one afternoon, they begged me to consider releasing this album for others to enjoy and empathize. It's also a rare glimpse into my deep love for acoustic music composition.

Though professionally I am known for my electronic music works, I've had more than two decades as a fingerstyle player on many different acoustic instruments. I feel it's a special opportunity for me to embrace yet another destination and contrast of the muse. These recordings were realized very quickly. One song recorded each day, one pass at a time, no double takes. I have fond memories of my studio during these sessions being wide open with high ceilings, large windows, sunlight, incense and a winding myriad of plants surrounding the microphone stations. All of the environmental sounds you hear on this album were captured during my many early morning walks around the landscapes where my home and studio now reside. Even though this is a recording of thusly spoken musical passageways, I am hopeful that they will find a place in the home of the heart of your own personal moments. A place of solace & sunlight. For it was in this place where these passages simply came through to find their way into my musical heart. To dream far beyond the skies of the miraculous and believe that those miracles are simply the evolutions of our own patience in this time. To live life free and clearly."
- Lisa Bella Donna, 2021