“Humour and the misfortune of others” is a musical endeavour through which Smiths sultry voice guides the listener across an eclectic sound-scape of emotion, incorporating elements of soul, funk, blues and psychedelia.

Over her two year hiatus since the release of her highly acclaimed debut album
”Long Player”, Hollie Smith redirected her attention to herself rather than the outside world, letting personal emotions and experiences of love, loss and hope trickle from pen to paper into the heart of her songs.

“A lot of the messages are a lot more obvious than I might normally do as I tend to keep things personal or private. A lot of them will make sense but again, like in a lot of my song writing you can kind of take from them what you want” says Smith.

The cathartic musical experience of “Humour and the misfortune of others” occurred at Waiuku’s Revolver Studios under the guidance of Wellington multi instrumentalist and producer Rikki Gooch. The album was largely recorded live with minimal takes due to a strong bond between Gooch, engineer Brent Stanton, Smith and the prowess of Smiths band members, Darren Mathiassen (drums), Tyson Smith (guitar) and Creete Haami (bass). This bond is demonstrated on songs “Finding Home” and “Will You Be The One” which required no editing during the final cut.

The first single “Mamma” was release to radio in early February and reminds audiences of Smiths signature style of music: a battle between soul and funk entwining the electricity of Smiths spine tingling powerful voice with soulful gospel with thick basslines.