ALY COOK PAYS TRIBUTE TO CHRISTCHURCH ALONG THE RIVER

Been ages since i posted anything on here from ALY COOK, the increasingly popular country folk singer/songwriter from New Zealand, who scored a major career break and a lot of accolades following the release of her most recent album - A BRAND NEW DAY. In comparison to the Nashville influence of COUNTRY STORM, the satirical and upbeat SPEND IT and the album's big hit single MIDNIGHT SUN, which spent 11 weeks amongst the Top 30 country music chart across the Tasman in Australia, the cool almost what you would class celtic melancholy of the song THE RIVER stands out from the rest because of it's loose, unstructured and breezy feel. No Nashville barroom 4/4 on offer here, just the odd splash of pure melodic steel guitar and piano, much more contemporary than her typical style. Aly wrote THE RIVER (with Alan Jansson) against the backdrop of the 'second' devastating Christchurch earthquake in 2012, the video for the song was filmed in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens as a dedication to people of Christchurch and to all those who helped in the recovery and rebuilding of the city after the two devastatating quakes, the first one being in 2010. THE RIVER was Aly's way of articulating the defiance showed by the people of Christchurch to restore their city to its former glory.