Blessed with a voice that could make angels weep due to its sheer silky beauty, Candice Night has had an eventful career that has seen her sing with Helloween, Avantasia, William Shatner and, most famously, with both Rainbow and Blackmore’s Night, sharing the stage for the latter two with husband Ritchie Blackmore. Ever producing music, the New York area native turned her attention to collating songs she had written over the past ten years, drawing them together for this, her third solo album in the form of Sea Glass.
Candice Night – Sea Glass
Release Date: 25 April 2025
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Dipping into various musical styles, the Sea Glass numbers are a kaleidoscope of sounds and emotions, a sonic scrapbook of good times and bad that covers a turbulent decade for Candice Night.
Eschewing the hard-rocking feel of some of her previous projects, there is nonetheless a real sense of dynamics here, the rawness of emotions giving the numbers some real heft that goes beyond a high decibel assault.
Here, tough subjects are dealt with a fine touch, the malleability of the voice of Candice Night and her ability to draw depth out of the smallest intonation display just what a fine singer and musician she is.
Sea Glass is a deeply personal album but also one filled with universal and relatable themes of love and loss in all its various hues, everything accompanied by a soundtrack that taps into these emotions but never overwhelms. Here, the feel is key.
The shimmering and atmospheric title track opens, its delicate, timeless feel playing around both heart and head with a gossamer touch that leaves a lasting impression, the folky Americana of the following Unsung Hero (She’ll Never Know) glorying in some goosebump-inducing vocal harmonies.
There is a leisurely and unhurried pace here that lets the songs breathe, and whilst the first single, Angel And Jezebel, has the bracketed description of (Rock Version) attached to it, there is more a feel of languid Summer days spent with friends than anything too rambunctious as its country charms work their magic.
Candice Night is a real storyteller. Her ability to engage the listener is something that both charms and pays dividends as each tale unfolds. The production, too, is smart, and whilst others may dip into schmaltz by using children singing, the appearance of her son and daughter on vocals for Promise Me adds a poignancy and reality that fits in a striking way.
Everything is tastefully and sparingly done, the addition of another family member, in the form of husband Ritchie, bringing his quicksilver touch to the fretwork on Sea Glass and Last Goodbye to subtly service the song rather than showboat.
Throwing a slight curveball into the mix, Dark Carnival is the album’s sole purely instrumental piece, and it’s a captivating and mysterious number that has hints of Middle Eastern and Eastern European flavours curling like smoke through it.
Widening the range further, When I Want To Fly has the folky Prog vibe of legends Renaissance, and Another Day could have been born in the halcyon days of the 1970s at a time when songwriters were king and singers did not rely on autotune.
Before the bonus, ‘Back Porch Version’ of Angel And Jezebel closes things, an absolutely stunning rendering of Eden Ahbez’s classic Nature Boy stops the show. Night’s very personal take on the song is respectful to the original, whilst adding her own vocal patina that makes it shine.
Most will remember the honeyed warmth of Nat King Cole’s original recording, along with the covers by both Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughn, but this has its very own life and spark of beauty that again reinforces its claim to be one of the very best songs ever written.
An album that shines with both an inner light and rare warmth, Sea Glass is a collection of diamonds that is well worth seeking out. Wonderful.
Candice Night – Sea Glass is released on 25 April 2025 via earMUSIC as a limited-edition LP, CD Digipak, and Digital and can be pre-ordered from here.
