Hayley Westenra - Pure

Comparisons with Charlotte Church are inevitable, yet 16-year-old New Zealand singer Hayley Westenra has her own distinctive sound. She has impeccably clear diction coupled with a gorgeous voice with a very wide range: her high notes in the Kate Bush hit "Wuthering Heights" are especially striking, and like Bush she is also a dancer, having performed with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. If there's a problem, it's that Pure doesn't have a focus to match Westenra's talent, the tracks spanning everything from "Amazing Grace" to a Maori lullaby ("Hine e Hine") to hybrid pieces adapted from Ravel ("Never Say Goodbye") and Vivaldi's Four Seasons ("River of Dreams"). Ultimately what this set does demonstrate is that whatever direction Westenra finally settles on, she has the ability to go to the very top. For now she is a young artist finding her way, and for many listeners the result is Pure magic. --Gary S Dalkin