Quick hitters:: Meaghan Smith The Cricket's Quartet

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If you an artist falls in the woods, and there is no legal MP3 to blog about, does it make a noise? Normally, it would be pointless to throw up a quick note about a four-song EP from a local artist when you can't attach a free song, but when it comes to Halifax based Meaghan Smith, well, she deserves any attention we can give her.

Her new EP – The Cricket’s Quartet – shows just how creative Meaghan is. When you have a timeless voice like Smith possesses, you could sing over standard jazz arrangements or banged out piano lines and still wow any listener. Instead, Meaghan uses distorted mellotron samples, turntables and well placed horns. Refusing to play it safe, she takes some big risks to ensure the music lives up to the high standard set by her compelling vocals.

Somehow she’s able to take you on a trip to smoky speakeasy – seriously, if you can’t see dapper Dans in suits and fedoras and dames in skirts shucking and jiving to the sounds of If You Asked you are crazy - but she twists up the sounds in a way that would make Madlib proud.

For all you Hali-locals hoping to hear her warm your heart as the winter chills your nose, well, you are going to have to wait. She’s on a US tour for the next 5-months, and chances are when she gets back, Ms. Smith is going to be someone everyone is talking about. In the meantime, you can over to IHM and grab the MP3s from a CBC show Meaghan recorded. Obviously, it’s stellar.