Previewed on her recent UK tour the second single from the follow up to "Dream Country" has landed and it arrives with a suitable shimmer on the cymbals to say something important is arriving before launching into a prominent piano riff.
Co written with Jess Sharman who has already contributed to a lot of Ward Thomas's output this was always giong to be something special and it does not fail to deliver.
It's a song of hope, that there may be struggles along the way but that ultimately the reward is worth the journey, like the caterpillar that transforms into the butterfly to get its wings and fly.
It compares the time and pressure required to make diamonds with the pressures of life and comes packed with life affirming statements "You're worth more than you know", "turn your fear into hope". The vocals so hypnotic that you don't realise the instrumentation has built up around you and suddenly there is a maelstrom of strings and percussion before finally returning to just the piano riff to close out.
Somewhat lost in the pre C2C hullaballoo was the first single "Wasted" which was a shame as it was single dealing with an important issue the effects of addiction, in this case alcohol and the effects it has on a relationship. In remarkably few words Sarah is able to build a quite vivid picture of the person on the other end of the addiction - "A couple pills and your pain is gone - But my hurtin' goes on and on" which effectively leads to the inevitable conclusion "You can't hold your whiskey and hold me too".
The word "wasted" has a double meaning in the song lyrically it is referring to the love that the partner has going unappreciated but almost subliminally you are drawn to apply it to the partner having had one too many whiskey.
Sarah's vocal as ever is divine perfectly capturing the sadness of the narrator in the relationship.
The first 2 singles already seeming to indicate that the follow up to "Dream Country" is likely to be just as special.