Hi-Res Downloads

96kHz/24-bit FLAC, In-Akustik 0707787914321 (supplied by www.highresaudio.com)

Ummm, yes, so it’s a children’s album – and one the Canadian jazz singer (and high-school French teacher) says she made because some of her fans were already playing her music to their kids. So you have a set that’s pitched at the younger end of the ‘kids’ brief, and featuring the likes of Muppet favourite ‘The Rainbow Connection’ (which arguably Kermit performed better), ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’, a setting of A A Milne’s ‘Halfway Down The Stairs’, and the lullaby ‘Hushabye Mountain’, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. There are probably ad types already getting misty-eyed and visualising Christmas campaigns while listening to this album, as Panton has just the right fragility and breathiness of voice. However, for all the lushness of the sound here – and it is beautifully recorded – I found the whole saccharine enterprise sleep-inducing. Job done, then. AE

Sound Quality: 80%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

For such a smooth-sounding 96kHz file there’s a surprising degree of HF content associated with Ms Panton’s close-miked vocal and accompanying vibes, some of which may possibly be distortion from downstream electronics. PM