Christine Smith “Meet Me On The Far Side Of A Star”

Christine Smith is an artist we first stumbled upon when she appeared alongside Dave Bielanko at what was a quite exceptional gig. It was a gig that led to us discovering one of our favourite bands, Marah. She has also featured alongside one of our all-time musical heroes, Jesse Malin. So, with those credentials and a reputation as a phenomenal musician, we were really looking forward to hearing what her solo material would be like.

Whatever you might be expecting, you’ll definitely be captured by the pure beauty of the poignant ballad “This Love”. Together with tracks like “Feels Like Yesterday” and “I Know This Moon”,  they’re piano led, delicate and engaging songs. They’ll bring a lump to the throat of even the hardest rocker!

It seems kinda wrong to even try and commercialise this type of music given the passion and class involved. But, there’s no hiding from the fact that if songs like “Happily Never After” and the exquisite “Meet Me On The Far Side Of A Star“ could be introduced to the massive group of people that loved La La Land, they could be huge. There’s an inventiveness and spark to them, but they also retain a melody that could appeal to the masses.

The timing of this release is also perfect. Whilst not exactly festive, there’s certainly a feel that these songs are written for cold, dark, winter nights with a log fire burning away. “You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore” may be perfect for drowning your sorrows with a whisky but tracks like “Trying Not To Fall In Love” and “Very Very” could accompany a romantic shared bottle of red wine. Final song “We’re Never Going” really reminds us of the ‘memory moment’ in the film UP, a wonderful scene which, like this song, creates a real sense of raw emotion.

This release is clearly a mile away from the rock n roll shambles of Marah or the punk poet style of Mr Malin. But, as they say, a change is as good as a rest. If you want to add some ‘class’ to your record collection, then this is a good place to start. An album full of beautiful songs with some heartfelt and, in some places, heart-breaking lyrics.