. : : April 14/17th, 2014 : : .

Four and a half years after her brilliant début major label album, The Cricket’s Orchestra, Meaghan Smith is back with her sophomore follow-up, Have A Heart.

Gone is influence of the big band and early jazz of the 40’s and 50’s, replaced an eccentric mix of modern and 60’s/70’s pop. Although jumping ahead several decades in influence and sound, all you have to do is listen to songs like Friends Like You and you’ll rest assured that at the heart of these bigger, bolder, and largely produced songs is still that sweet and wry Canadian gal who won a Best New Artist Juno in 2011.

Meaghan and her hus-band, Jason Mingo, seemed to have also upped the ante with their live set-up, replacing the stripped down almost-all-acoustic set enhanced by samples with a full live band. Jason now brandishes an electric guitar, and is rounded out by a keyboardist, bassist and live drummer.