The best singers make us believe the songs they are singing.
For Australian-born, New York-resident vocalist Chris McNulty, the meaning behind the songs on her seventh release (a judicious selection of songbook standards with a few outliers) could not be more poignant or more deeply felt.
Eternal is a response to the death of her son – not the heart-wrenching first pangs of grief, but the sound of a human being living with the pain, getting on with life without forgetting.
Steve Newcomb’s arrangements for the pocket-sized orchestra are pitch perfect and there are outstanding contributions from soloists Ben Wendel on bassoon and Paul Bollenbeck on guitar, but this touching, never maudlin album is all about the singer and a set of fine songs which she has made her own.
