MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: DENNIS ELLSWORTH & KINLEY DOWLING - EVERYONE NEEDS TO CHILL OUT

You gotta love the friendly, supportive P.E.I. music scene where friendship comes first. It's led to many fine collaborations over the years, and it also helps that the talent pool is ridiculously large, and crazy-fine for such a small region. Hence the team-up between these two, which went from friendship to writing to a full album in no time.

Ellsworth is the more established writer, with several fine roots releases to his name, and Dowling is the new hotshot, having just won Songwriter of the Year at the recent Music PEI awards, for her solo debut as KINLEY. Of course, her violin has taken her to the top with Hey Rosetta!, but this is another opportunity to stretch those new songwriting chops.

Ellsworth has never shied from the emotional, and Dowling's presence is absolutely an asset to that throughout. There's an ease and a lightness even in the sadder moments. In I Tried To Be Your Lover, she joins in harmony and seems to take the weight off a broken heart of a song. While Ellsworth takes the bulk of the lead vocals, her turn on Something Beautiful is warm and uplifting, a sunbeam to his misty summer morning.

Produced with part-time Islander Aaron Comeau (Skydiggers, Al Tuck), there's no tricks or heavy atmosphere, it's all up close and gentle, with two glorious voices helping us just....breath.