Cabaret cool meets ethereal pop, then gets completely subjugated by the wittiest lyrics to recent memory—welcome to Hilary Grist and her new CD, Imaginings. Grist is best known as a CBC artist, as national radio is one of the few places her brand of eclectic pop fits. A grad of the highly acclaimed Capilano University Jazz Program, on her fourth album she’s finally working with a producer who loves her, literally. Imaginings is produced by her new husband, Mike Southworth. Playing drums, a plethora of guitars and percussion, Southworth is also the second half of what is effectively a duo. Recorded in part in the apartment occupied by the multi-talented, multi-instrumental Grist-Southworths, Imaginings’ production values are excellent. The one flaw here may be the album’s musical diversity. By the middle of the album, any listener will have it figured out: Grist is a flexible, extremely talented and intelligent artist who’s impressed us with a cornucopia of skills. The only problem is we’re not sure what exactly it is that has us impressed. Grist clearly has talent but Imaginings lacks a focus. Even the two tracks with the best chance of being successful singles have little in common. On “About You,” Grist comes across like a more jaded Zoey Deschanel of She & Him—the sound du jour for hipster chicks with lovely alto voices. It’s the kind of pleasant acoustic pop used to hawk back-to-school clothes at Zellers. “Something Beautiful,” with its haunting piano, is a Norah Jones-style ballad for contemporary adults (or whoever it is that listens to adult contemporary) that sounds like a Juno shoo-in. But it’s on tunes like “Back in Town,” “Better” and “Stick of Dynamite” that the spectrum of her unique talents truly synthesizes.
