April Smith And The Great Picture Show
Songs For A Sinking Ship
(self-released)
www.aprilsmithmusic.com

April Smith And The Great Picture Show is exactly why people have to look to underground artists to find something good. April Smith and her mirthful brigade dubbed The Great Picture Show consist of Elliot Jacobson on drums, Brandon Lowry on keyboards, Marty O' Kane on guitar, and Stevens on bass. Their self-released album Songs For A Sinking Ship resonates with the street folk pomp of Matt Costa combined with the fibrillating ragtime beats of New Orleans' cotton club jazz and a showtune's vamp that is catchy and fresh. Singer-songwriter April Smith's character comes through in these songs colored in carnival chimed pop and sizzling cabaret pageantry.

Born and bred in Tom's River, New Jersey, April Smith shows complete confidence in making impromptu outbursts and playing swing jazz like it is still fashionable and en vogue. Her vocals are plump and burly without compromising the feminine lilt in her register, and her tunes are lit by influences steeped in the swing era reflected in the dance grooves of "Movie Loves A Screen" and the sultry lifts and falls in "Dixie Boy." The music pulls the listener in whether Smith is stomping playfully like in "Colors" or cooing softly as shown in "Beloved." The jukebox vibe of "Wow And Flutter" boasts a catchy percussive heaving, and the foxtrot tempo of "Terrible Things" has a sleek cabaret style as the bluesy intonations wafting through "Drop Dead Gorgeous" increase the punch in Smith's vocals. If Smith was on a campaign to restore the optimism projected in the music featured in '40s Hollywood films, the world would probably go along happily with being sucked into the vortex.

Produced by Dan Romer (Ingrid Michaelson, Jenny Owen Youngs), Songs For A Sinking Ship tips the music scales in favor of vivacious tunage. From yesteryear jukebox melodies to ragtime rhythm, Songs For A Sinking Ship favors a jazz-pop axis and operates on its own shudder. Smith's vocals seem unguarded as she moves beyond her inhibitions and the strictures of being polite. She is all flying sparks and swanky, old-time swing. April Smith is a welcoming lightning bolt in music, and gives modern pop a hefty kick in a new direction where artists can thrive in their own individual style.

-Susan Frances

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