Time for another earnest Canadian singer songwriter. I could feel the urge to be dismissive overcome me as I listened to the first song on Lynne Miles’s album “Fall For Beauty” as Paul Simon once wrote, there are fifty ways to leave your lover yet, as a wise reviewer once wrote, there are only nine ways to describe average. There are however many more ways to describe something special. Fortunately this album proved to be a bit special.
So what made this album a bit special? It’s a matter of breeding really. Ms Miles doesn’t settle for being the same as the pack. There is, for example, far more attention to detail than is common for the genre. Even a conventional duet (with Jim Bryson) like “Goodbye” shows uncommon class and there is also a refreshing stylistic restlessness on show to further entertain your ears. “Time To let The Sun” swirls and sparkles like a ballad from a Hollywood musical while the classic country styling of “Three Chords and the Truth” evoke a bygone era when country was actually country. There is, after all, nothing wrong with sentimentality when it is in the right hands.
Ms Miles is an intelligent songwriter too and she successfully portrays the dark side of love in “Love Doesn’t Hurt” before quickly counterpointing the message of that song with a tale of obsession on what is the best song on the album - “Save Me”.
“Fall For Beauty” is a classy album from a classy performer. It’s as simple as that.