One of the brighter things to come out of this unusual summer has been the emergence of Halle Kearns who has managed to liven things up with a couple of bright and breezy tunes to see us through. First up was "Pick Me Up" the delightful celebration of the weekend mainly developed around an acoustic guitar riff into a perfect pop song, this was followed by "I Drink Whiskey", which continued the basic acoustic sound and developed it a little further - no standing still for Halle.
The new song "Shoes To Fill" is a complete change and is destined to show there are many facets to Halle as a performer. For a start it is a piano ballad, so immediately the focus is going to be on those vocals, which show that there is a lot more depth to her singing than she has had to show so far on her more poppier singles.
The subject matter for this ballad is something of a country tradition of recent years, the Daddy song. It is something of a delicate divide to travel, as too mawkish and sugar coated can come across slightly annoying and to searingly honest can become a bit of a tearjerker and it seems that Halle has found the perfect pitch in the middle with this song.
Halle's songs so far have always had a tiny fragments of her life interspersed within them and this seems no different as she plucks out little childhood vignettes of falling off a bike and crashing a car at 16 and her fathers reaction to them, which it must be said is remarkably chilled. This then forms the basis of her expectations in a man, as she puts it, her Dad has been "Setting the bar for the man that gets to have my heart". It all goes to make a heartfelt song that has just the right authentic feel to it that should resonate well with her fans.
The childhood reminiscences are balanced out by details of a failed 2 year relationship with someone who failed to make the grade despite his protestations of having "never felt more in love", a liaison that Halle later admits "Deep down I knew how it would end". Fulfilling its role as both a tribute to her Dad and a guide for any prospective suitor who wants to get Halle to the point where she is ready "to give up my last name" - "Shoes To Fill" is a success on both levels.
Shoes To Fill is available to Pre Order and is released on October 23rd