Cross Nelly Furtado with Norah Jones and you get some indication of the sweetly soulful voice that colours the eleven songs here. Maya Rae is still in her teens but that is never evident on this assured performance. When you put her natural vocal gifts in a room of seasoned musicians in Nashville, at the Henhouse Studio, only good things can arise. Add in the magic dust of Steve Dawson, producer, song arranger in-chief, adding his talents on various guitars across all the tracks, well, you are bound to be impressed.

Factor in the impressive vocal talents of Birds of Chicago duo, Allison Russell and JT Nero, plus Kai Welch (keyboards/trumpet), Jamie Dick (drums), John Estes (bass) and a number of invited guests on certain tracks - Charlie McCoy (vibes on 2 songs), Sam Howard (bass, guitar, vocals across 4 songs), Kristin Weber (violin on 3 songs) and Larissa Maestro (cello on 2 songs) - an impressive team reporting for creative input.

As one of Canada’s most sought-after producers, session musicians and guitarists, Steve Dawson spends much of his time helping other songwriters and musicians bring their creative visions to life. Here, he accepted a chance to work with this talented fellow Canadian who co-wrote all eleven tracks with her brother. The songs are all from a personal perspective and for a young girl growing into adulthood Maya Rae writes with an impressive maturity.

The album was recorded in less than a week and the entire project was captured live in the studio - off the floor, as popular saying goes! Rae’s tone and range are very skilled and slow, sensitive tracks like Picture Frame and Storm Leaf, with atmospheric trumpet, leave no doubt about her ability to cross genres in her performance. Other stand out tracks include Lonely Ones, a sweetly soulful arrangement, and Freedom Fighter a smouldering blues. Overall, this is a very strong statement from an emerging artist that we will be hearing more from in the years ahead.