Flutist and marimbist duo Zara Lawler and Paul J. Fadoul (collectively known as Lawler + Fadoul) release the concept album, Clickable: The Art of Persuasion. This is an audio version of a live show that uses theatrical performance and audience participation to convey the many facets of persuasion - from powerful storytelling to coercion, pressure, and manipulation. The album includes commercial jingles, a lullaby, dust jacket texts set to music, a protest song, a serenade, and a spoken-word commentary on social media...

Originality and humour are centre stage on Lawler + Fadoul's concept album Clickable: The Art of Persuasion. With a title like "The Art of Persuasion" it's little wonder that advertising is explored on this album. The lively tempo of the opening 'Jingle Without Words' is followed by the first of four 'Hedonistic Treadmill' vignettes, told as a series of commercial breaks.

'Want It. Need It. Have It', witnesses Lawler’s flute in pursuit of Fadoul’s marimba, a chase that is designed to be a sideways, musical exploration of the West's consumer-centric society.

The album also features three dust jacket pieces that touch on the darker sides of persuasion. These include Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility as well as E. Lockhart's We Were Liars and Gretchen Craft Rubin's Power Money Fame Sex.

The whole things rounds off with 'Common Thread', a twee singalong with the audience. The most awkward and unnatural of persuasion techniques - we've all been involved in impromptu ones were we've been coerced into singing something we wouldn't normally do.

This is a clever, funny concept album that really explores its subject matter with a fine tooth comb... Have I persuaded you to part with your money? I hope so.

Track listing

01 - Jingle Without Words (5:25)
Lewis Spratlan (composer), Arr. Paul Fadoul
Zara Lawler (flute, piccolo, whistle), Paul Fadoul (marimba, vibraphone, hi-hat, snare drum, cowbell, granite block, nightingale whistle, tambourine)

02 - Hedonic Treadmill 1 (0:33)
Lewis Spratlan (composer), Arr. Lawler + Fadoul
Lawler + Fadoul (words)
Zara Lawler (voice, washboard), Paul Fadoul (voice, marimba)

03 - Want It. Need It. Have It. (9:18)
Adam B. Silverman (composer)
Zara Lawler (flute), Paul Fadoul (marimba)

04 - Hedonic Treadmill 2 (0:37)
Lewis Spratlan (composer), Arr. Lawler + Fadoul
Zara Lawler (voice, washboard), Paul Fadoul (voice, marimba)

05 - Sense & Sensibility (2:01)
George Frideric Handel (composer), Arr. Lawler + Fadoul
Text from dust jacket of Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen, adapted and set by Zara Lawler
Zara Lawler (flute, voice), Paul Fadoul (guitar, voice), Megan Meyer (voice)

06 - LIARS (4:41)
Ralph Farris (composer)
Text from dust jacket of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart with additional dialog by Ralph Farris
Zara Lawler (flute, voice), Paul Fadoul (marimba, voice), Aine Zimmerman (additional voice)

07 - Power Money Fame Sex (4:39)
Jason Nett (composer)
Text from dust jacket of Power Money Fame Sex by Gretchen Craft Rubin
Zara Lawler (flute, voice), Paul Fadoul (marimba, cajón, egg shaker)

08 - Hedonic Treadmill 3 (0:34)
Lewis Spratlan (composer), Arr. and text by Lawler + Fadoul
Zara Lawler (voice), Paul Fadoul (voice, marimba)

09 - Canyon Serenade (5:15)
Katherine Hoover (composer), Arr. Lawler + Fadoul
Zara Lawler (flute), Paul Fadoul (marimba, vibraphone)

10 - Blow the Moon Out (3:29)
Traditional, Arr. Lawler + Fadoul
Zara Lawler (alto flute, voice), Paul Fadoul (vibraphone, cajón)

11 - Hedonic Treadmill 4 (0:32)
Lewis Spratlan (composer), Arr. Paul Fadoul
Zara Lawler (voice), Paul Fadoul (voice, marimba)

12 - The Sweet Shop (0:51)
Ralph Farris (composer and lyricist)
Zara Lawler (banjo, voice), Paul Fadoul (candy shaker, voice)

13 - Click. Tweet. Like. Repost. (5:45)
Liza Jessie Peterson (poet)
Zara Lawler (voice), Paul Fadoul (voice)

14 - Common Thread (3:13)
Pat Humphries (composer and lyricist)
Zara Lawler (banjo, lead vocals), Paul Fadoul (guitar, backing vocals), Bill Spence (hammered dulcimer), George Wilson (bass, backing vocals), Howard Jack (guitar, backing vocals)

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Darren Rea