Christian Collins
Christian is a newbie to me, a BIMM Dublin musician that I met at the rothar sessions in late September. You never know who’s going to walk through the door to perform a set and that’s what I love about showcases like that; who are we going to see, what are we going to hear and most importantly, the artist showing the audience that place where they write from.
Christian launched his new single ‘Sweet Divine’ on Oct 9th in the Unitarian Church on St. Stephens Green. At the sessions he said that he would have a ten piece band for the launch which sounded pretty epic for a church setting. For the purpose of the sessions he played it on guitar and from that performance alone, prior to hearing the single itself, it is a song of praise and passion and he shows us that place where it came from.
The musical arrangement of the song builds to combine with the lyrics at the right time and place. It’s a great production of percussion and strings, impacting on behalf of the lyrics and Christian’s vocal which is dynamic in sincerity and the pain of what he’s singing about. ‘Sweet Divine’ is the place he wants to be in, a state of being, where all is well and the love he wishes was his, is there with him too. The backing vocals deserve a worthy mention as they heighten the haunting, spiritual feel of the whole song, taking it up there to that utopian place of ‘Sweet Divine’.
It’s a great song, from a great singer-songwriter whom I know we will definitely hear more of again and looking forward to doing so. This single is currently on itunes, buy it, hear it, love it!
© Zoë Farrell