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Hollie Smith - Album Review: Water Or Gold

15 Apr 2016 // A review by Andrew Smit

The first song begins all mellow and mystic accompanied by the cool strains of Hollie's yearning voice which provokes your ears and then like being catapulted onto a ride you're delivered to the soulful and very funky sound that is Water Or Gold. The title track personifies the whole albums sound, it is real and vibrant and bursting with character and overall is a joyous experience.

The music is transcendent with its amazingly cool and classy type of funky pop, the slower tracks have a soothing and dreamy quality, while the funked up ballsy blues numbers make you want to groove.

Hollie's expressive singing pours deep into the tune In Love Again which is reminiscent of the classic Bathe in the River where her gospel like crooning is full of texture and feeling that sounds so earthy and natural. The ballads Anymore and Helena have hauntingly beautiful melodies that really gets into you and makes you sway and swoon on its delicate but expressive sound.

Poor on Poor is a groovy number that has a great rhythm and vibe, while the gritty rock guitar sound on Lead the Way is a treat, and the way it builds with fabulous fat brass and keyboards is incredibly effective. The quirky keyboards in Older Younger are stimulating and provide yet another soundscape that appears tailor made for Hollie's velvet tones. The album ends with another glorious gospel song full of power and drama that is not just a Dream in title, such is its soulfulness it will conjure one.

You'd have to go far to hear a more honest and beautifully crafted collection of songs, so save yourself a journey and listen to Water Or Gold now.

 

About Hollie Smith

Hollie Smith is one of NZ's most predominant & celebrated New Zealand musicians. After working with numerous bands including TrinityRoots, Fat Freddy’s Drop and Detroit dance legend Recloose, she was approached by NZ royalty Don McGlashan to perform on a movie soundtrack single Bathe In The River that topped the NZ charts & became one of the biggest & iconic singles in NZ history.

This set the stage for her debut album Long Player which went straight to number one on the NZ charts, This multi platinum selling album had sold out national tours & saw her take away several NZ music awards which included ‘Best Producer’, ‘Best Female Solo Artist’ and ‘Breakthrough artist of the year’. Long Player also caught the attention of Bruce Lundvall, head of Blue Note records in New York, where she spent time working with Philidelphia heavyweight soul producer James Poyser. This also saw her tour Europe as part of the Blue Note Jazz Festival.

Her follow up album Humour and the Misfortune of Others also hit number one receiving rave review & again numerous award nominations & sell out tours, proving she was here to stay. During this time she also supported Bob Dylan, Coldplay and Simply Red in NZ.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Hollie Smith

Releases

Water Or Gold
Year: 2016
Type: Album
Buy Online @ Mightyape
Band Of Brothers Vol 1
Year: 2011
Type: Album
Long Player - Deluxe Edition
Year: 2008
Type: Album
Long Player
Year: 2007
Type: Album
E.P.
Year: 2006
Type: EP

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