When I received in the mail a copy of young Canadian jazz singer Larra Skye’s CD The World Disappears, I was happy to see that the impact she has in her live performances carries over to her studio work. Although there are some more than capable instrumental performances by the musicians on this album, make no mistake about it, you are shelling out your dollars for an opportunity to hear the gorgeous, velvety vocals of Skye.

The songbird delivers romantic lines such as, "Sweep me off my feet / If you say that you love me / Say it’s forever / Kiss me until / the end of my life," with conviction. The lyrics from "Turn Up The Stars," are enveloped in the soft, dreamy tones of Kevin Turcotte’s flugehorn and muted trumpet. The song was a collaborative writing effort between Skye, Adrean Farrugia who plays piano the track and Gerrard P. Finn, who assisted with the mixing for the CD.

"The Only One I’ll Miss," another Skye co-write, is a song that talks about the fear of falling in love again. It features a beautiful and moody saxophone solo by tenor Bob Brough.

The vocalist’s skill as a songwriter and poet is evident in the ballad "Down On Your Luck," a song that like many of the tunes on this album has soft edges and is sung elegantly.

If you visit the website CD Baby, you will see comparisons between Skye and Diana Krall, Carole King and Norah Jones. It may just be me but I do not hear that in her vocals. Of the three mentioned Krall is the best comparison, but Skye is sultrier and Diana is a little bolder in her delivery. The comparison to King if made in terms of songwriting would indeed be accurate, as both have finely crafted phrases and images in their lyrics. Vocally there is no comparison, they are just too different. As for Jones, one would hope that any singer who possesses emotive vocals, as Skye does, would not be compared to Jones. The later singer has been around long enough to have learned how to sing evocatively, but still has not brought that depth of emotion to her singing.

In Canada Skye has unprecedented (for a twenty-three year old jazz singer), national distribution agreements with HMV one of the country’s largest retail music chains, Chapters and Indigo two of the larger combined book and music retailers in the country. The World Disappears has been embraced by Canadian jazz stations, campus radio stations and public broadcasters.

If you want to hear beautiful vocals, delivered by a rising star on the jazz scene, then pickup a copy of The World Disappears. Larra Skye explores the heartbreak, joy, disappointment, and uncertainty of love, in songs such as "Love Is," "Open Up Your Eyes," and "Make Believe." The phrase torch song was invented for people like Larra Skye when sings "Pretty Little Baby."