The Hillary Reynolds Band

While The Hillary Reynolds Band are ostensibly a folk/Americana experience with this – their third album - they have produced a tapestry of genre crossing songs that hold to the values of the aforementioned but aren’t afraid to go a little further.

We have the jaunty, playful Pretending I’m in Love, rubbing shoulders with the just as jaunty but more melancholic, jazzier I Surrender. Hillary Reynolds vocals are at the core of the album and while there are the usual suspects (Mitchell and Nicks) there’s also more than a hint of Carole King’s deceptive simplicity as on What It Is and the beautiful I Didn’t Know Who Else to Call.

One of the strengths of the album is that it sounds so natural: where strings are used they are integral to the song and the harmonies just flow with ease and enhance rather than overwhelm. If it does meander towards bland soft rock a times the band lob in the Country tinged This Love is Ours and are back on track. They do brush with rock on Looking for a Way Back, which could have been a touch heavier.

Overall, there’s an air of gentle assuredness throughout and that’s primarily down to excellent performances, sympathetic production and arrangements. The likes of Fleetwood Mac and Crosby Still and Nash come to mind though that’s more to do with the tone of the album than actual influence. At 53 minutes it may be a tad long though it’s never a grind, the ebbs and flows of the music ensure that interest is maintained