This is the debut album from Lily Holbrook. The front cover of this album put me off a little from wanting to listen to it properly. They say the first bite is with the eye, and this is often the deciding factor as whether or not you want to buy the album, should you happen to pick it up in amongst others in a record store. Lily is a very pretty young lady who looks about 17 or 18 in the photo on the back cover, but the front cover in some respects leaves a lot to be desired. It has Lily portrayed as a cartoon Barbie-doll fairy, and on the inset as a space girl and also a mermaid. It put me off taking her music seriously. Perhaps this may have been good idea at the time. But in 10 or 20 years she may wish she had taken a more modest arty approach. Remember the first bite is with the eye!

However on playing the album it turned out to be a lot deeper than I first imagined. Lily Holbrook is a very pretty young lady from Boston, M.A. U.S.A. who aspires to be a singer-songwriter. Lily's songs, however, are very deep in their purpose or meaning. They are set very much in the fantasy world of a slightly innocent teenager, looking out at life through rose coloured glasses, but have a child psychologist's feel to them. Or at least that's the impression you might get, particularly from the album cover and sleeve notes. Lily has an interesting voice and she sings sweetly with a lot of feeling and emotion in her performance. She plays guitar on most of the tracks and has seven other guest musicians adding various pieces on guitar, violin, cello, trumpet, djembe, didgeridoo, and even her 'psychologist' giving a wolf howl on the 5th song 'Little Red Riding Hood'. When I relate the lyrics to the first couple of songs, 'The Snow', from which the title of the album is derived and at track two the song 'Mermaids', maybe you will understand and perhaps this will give you an insight as to the depths of her lyrics…

The Snow

I am the snow,
Running from the sky,
Running from hunters,
The wicked stepmother,
You are the three kings,
High on rust and wine,
Fighting the Furies,
The missing stories.
You say I am forgetting,
What I never knew to begin with.

Mermaids

Yesterday I believed in Fairy Tales,
With all my heart,
And yesterday I followed secret trails,
Inside my heart,
And I can't let this fall apart,
I will not slip into their world.
Cause in my silver sea,
She's dancing with the Mermaids.

As a wordsmith she shows a surprising amount of talent for her young years. But she needs to hone in on her skills as a songwriter-tunesmith a bit more, if indeed it is her intention to be recognized on the world stage as a serious performer. Sadly I fear this album won't do it for her. As poetry her lyrics are probably fine, but they need that little bit extra to be entertaining as songs. Although Lily sings superbly in a pop fashion, and she has a nice and interesting voice, on the first couple of tracks I found the tunes somewhat monotonous. They were all a little too much the same. It's not until 'Little Red Riding Hood' that the depression lifts, but sadly that's it!

The last track on the album the song 'Dandelion' sounds like an ego trip for Lily and her immediate family. The track ends with the sound of children playing with a tape recorder. Lily needs to be more professional if she is intending to be taken seriously as a singer because she has a nice voice. Lily sounds too good to be a one-chance wonder, and as this album was released in year 2000, maybe now in 2003 she has moved on. It could be interesting to see which direction she takes with her music and with a little more experience what she can produce. I will have to file this one under 'pending'.

Lily Holbrook could be a singer to listen out for as she grows to be an ever more skilful performer and musician.