I often wax lyrical about the Taranaki region and its evident abundance of musical talent. Amongst these, most deservedly so, sits MissCrystal Starr. From her fabbo EP Eyes To The Stars I am going to review the eponymously titled single.

Firstly, when searching Spotify etc. make sure you search the full title MissCrystal Starr! Two words not three. Our winsome lady can be a little elusive otherwise. Anyway…

Eyes To The Stars is a full-throated folk/country blend, awash with some dreamy guitar layers and a bottom end as rich and tight as anyone would wish. We’ve got some nice steel acoustic strings running beneath some electric guitar picking, topped off with some (I think) steel guitar plugged into some great pedals, themselves not turned up too high to lose that unique ring. Great orchestration throughout.

MissCrystal has a crystal (ahaha, see what I did there?) soprano, and in the time I’ve been doing this I’ve seen her grow from strength to strength with what she knows she can do with it as her principal instrument. She carries a mild melody that sits atop the track very comfortably, giving you the feeling of being carried along on a gentle ride through that beautiful region of hers with the whopping great mountain in the middle of it. Some lush BVs help along the way, again nicely timed and balanced.

Lyrically there’s a plethora of storylines we can all insert from our own life experiences here. That’s the beauty of presenting a song with such invitations to share and compare, to empathise and to recognise. It’s a clever trick that not all lyricists can produce.

This track, and the whole EP in fact, would be enjoyed in company over drinkies. It would be enjoyed on a solo roadie, looking out at the late afternoon landscape. It would work at a barbie in the hot Taranaki sun. Pick your event. Solo or social – we’ve got a winner for you.

Keep your eye on MissCrystal Starr. She keeps delivering. 10 out of 10.