Reaching 12

Reaching 12

Faith Angelina

2017 / Faith Angelina

47 minutes

Review by Kathy Parsons

Reaching 12 is the debut album by one very special new artist, Faith Angelina. I can think of only one other album I have reviewed by a 12-year-old (Alexx Carnathan’s Daydreams and Waterfalls), and in my 36 years of teaching piano, I have never encountered anyone this young who could compose a whole album. Faith actually finished the twelfth piece for the album three days before her twelfth birthday, so all but one of these pieces were actually composed when she was eleven or younger (she wrote a thirteenth piece shortly after her birthday and is saving one of the original pieces for her second album). Faith’s story is compelling in that, due to a hormone imbalance, she had had thoughts of killing herself for half of her young life before the problem was diagnosed. She left a suicide note for her mother to find a year ago (August 2016), so the release of this album is a celebration and a milestone in Faith Angelina’s life. Quoting from the liner notes of the CD: “Reaching 12 is a story of emotional triumph and discovery. It is the completion of a young girl’s journey, a successful climb, and a moral victory captured through a musical journey of emotions in thought provoking melodies.” Is this the best album I’ve ever heard? No, not yet. However, putting the music into the perspective of someone so young, it is truly amazing!