Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The wagon was painted quite some time ago, but as with most lives, we often come into our own story later than others who have been waiting patiently for us, who have erected the scaffolding, laid out the hopes and the brushes and await eagerly for you to Paint Your Sky, to put down the colours in which have defined your life, your vision, your meaningful, and honour-bound art.
Mike Smith may have come to decorate his own scenery later in life than most, however what he gained along the way was experience, he lived a life that is denied many, arguably the most important job of all, that of raising a family. If that means only dreaming of the colours of which your piece of sky is painted, then so be it but people forget the groundwork, the memory that the plans have been studied, intricately poured over in fine detail and the blueprints long established. It is in that long observation which makes Mike Smith’s album, Paint Your Sky, such a treat, such a pleasure and necessity to hear.
Paint Your Sky brings Stephen Doster on electric and acoustic guitar, Dony Wynn on drums, Matthias Willig on percussion, George Reiff on bass and Kevin Lovejoy on piano to the attention of the listener, it is a great match to Mike Smith’s vision, his creative endeavour, the process started long ago and refined across time, has a team in which the heavens and the atmosphere rejoice; after all there is nothing finer that witnessing a person fulfil a dream when they have been chasing it for so long.
The canvas of the work takes in songs such as the opener Stealing Freedom, This Boy, Year of Crying, We Sang Hallelujah and the album title track, Paint Your Sky, out into the open, and the feeling of unearthed treasure comes pouring out, this particular canvas may have long been in the making, the dust sheets keeping the idea and theme under wraps for a period of time, but once removed, once allowed to breathe, the sky becomes a multitude of brilliance that can never again be hung in the dark.
A piece of art that was always going to be unveiled, it is always an honour to see such actions fulfilled.
Ian D. Hall