Artist:     Colin Hay

Album:     Gathering Mercury

Label:     (Compass)

Release Date:     03/29/2011

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Colin Hay’s 11th solo album, Gathering Mercury, is a deeply personal and spiritual journey through questions surrounding life and the afterlife. Inspired by the loss of his father, the veteran singer/songwriter proclaims that these are some of the strongest songs he’s ever written.

“Send Somebody,” the album’s first track and single, sets the tone lyrically, asking a stranger to “send somebody, cause I’m stranded and there’s no place left where I can run.” But while the overall theme of the album doesn’t stray far from home, the music does, each track playfully skipping from one sound to the next.

While “Dear Father” is lovingly finger picked over a somber violin, “Far From Home” has elements of reggae, giving it a syncopated feel. Hay describes “Where the Sky Is Blue” as a “vaudeville” tune with a “sunny vibe,” while the following track, “A Simple Song,” is just that: Hay and a mandola.

With over 30 years of songwriting under his belt, it’s no surprise that Gathering Mercury has all the depth, edge and emotional fortitude of a skilled master. Kudos to Hay on yet another album well done.

—Rebecca Dolber