Beauty In The Ashes is a strong and passionate body of work.
The title of the album Beauty In The Ashes reflects Donna's hopefulness and positivity even during the most difficult times in your life. Wide Open Spaces is inspired by a family member who literally climbed out of windows at a very young age. This lead to encounters with the police, early and repeated incarceration, bouts of homelessness and addiction. “I transposed this story into recognition of the greater, mostly Maori male population who have experienced the same problems.” Little Things, Memory and Fading were all written in response to the death of a family member or friend; woven into the strands of grief is the encouragement to treasure our family and our friends. Crown Street highlights Donna's concern for the infirm elderly in our society and the care they receive. Donna believes that the power of simple acts of kindness, given and received, can just as readily facilitate positive change (in Kindness To Strangers) as rules and regulations promulgated by politicians.
Beauty In The Ashes was recorded in a garage in Featherston and co-composer, Johnny Spence's flat in Wellington. The album was mastered by Littman Mastering in New York.