Cynthia has been known to walk the full mile of the independent artist route. Like in her previous albums, Comet's Tail sees the multi-awarded musician produce, write, play most of the instruments, and even create some of the album artwork.

In Comet's Tail , Cynthia Alexander is unmistakably in full control. With all the intricate arrangements, the music remains purposeful and is never lost in its complexity. Every note and every arrangement seem to be under the command of her powerful voice; the baton from which her emotions are laid out, layer upon layer.

Melancholic colors kick-off the album with the mournful, yet consoling “Turquoise Blue” and “Thioviolight” laying the emotional foundation. The different colors of lament are painted on tracks such as the sweeping “One Hundred Eight Eyes”, the dreamlike “Heya”, and the solemn “Alone” – a song based on a poem by Lia Lopez-Chua.

The tracks that bridge the melancholy to acceptance and redemption are laced with beautiful celestial imagery. Perhaps none more so than the album's title track, which from its powerful violin-cello intro, already signals the sweet sound of comforting insight. Its elliptical chorus: “comet's tail a-flying, I find me finding you, finding me, finding you,” bring an emotional arc that builds up from other redemptive songs such as “Mortal Merry Go Round”, “Moon Over You”, and “Brandnewday” and perfectly ends with “Emptyhanded” – an elegant reflection on life and death where Cynthia sings: “we are not born nor do we die, what is happening happens for the best.”

Comet's Tail also features the infectious chant “Mantra” and thoughtful instrumentals “Knowings” and “Sayaw ni Sita”, taken from the music of the marionette play “Sita and Rama: Papet Ramayana”, which Cynthia composed together with distinguished brother Joey Ayala.

While it seemed inconceivable for her already mature and complex musicality to further bloom, Cynthia Alexander does so with a highly satisfying third album that picks up further from the intensity of her previous work, while retaining the same elements that have established her as one of the finest Filipino musical artists around. Music as profoundly sublime as hers comes as rarely as comets visiting the heavens. It'll be such a shame to miss out on this one.

Alex Almario

Enroute