The Still, Small Voice - Roller Rink
The Still, Small Voice is the melodic indie rock project of Christiana Benton, currently based out of Philadelphia. The project officially began in Nashville, with the release of her debut full-length album In Tension in 2012. Driven by her love of new experiences and interpersonal connection, Christiana embarked on her first tour in the year following its release. Blessed with a musically adept community, Christiana’s touring and studio bands have featured a rotation of friends, turned collaborators. The Still, Small Voice has performed in basements, traditional venues, and festivals across the continental United States.
Christiana began writing lyrics before she ever learned to play an instrument. After having a dream that she could play the guitar, her father gifted her a Baby Taylor when she was thirteen. The ability to add a melodic counterpart to her existing lyrics quickly became a vital lifeline. Songwriting enabled her to explore and express the processing of her emotions and the world around her.
Though her songs clearly convey first hand personal experiences, which are valuable in their own right, many of Christiana’s tracks also offer a variety of thought provoking themes that invite deeper contemplation. After releasing two additional EP’s on her own (Mourning Dove and MANAGE), The Still, Small Voice is currently working on a new full length album to be released through Know Hope Records later this year.
In the meantime she released her latest single Roller Rink on Know Hope Records today, Wednesday 10 June.
It’s a beautiful track almost sounding completely acoustic due to the minimal arrangement, it’s full of a lightly strummed acoustic guitar, which is given a lift with the gorgeous angelic vocal of Christiana. It gives the track an almost ethereal dream like feeling which is perfect for the lyrical story.
The lyrics of Roller Rink are a coming of age story, perhaps depicting the personal events of Christiana, as she sings about the difficulties of youth with the words “didn’t want you to see me like that crying at the roller rink, slamming stall doors and yelling off my first obscenities, these girls were picking on my friends, we were all on skates, no way to defend ourselves at my eighth grade birthday”.
As the song progresses and tells of further lifetime events, it even reflects on what advice the singer would pass on to a daughter If she were to go on and have one, when she sings “and if I ever have a daughter I hope she knows there’s more to offer, I hope she knows there’s more to life than taking up less space, cos I found home inside my skin, in the part that made me expose breaking it, city where I love to live with a birthday coming up”.
It’s a track which is very personal to Christiana and exposing some moments of vulnerability, but at the same time highlights her growth as a person in dealing with the events and having the confidence to prevent future children from not achieving their aims and goals.
Roller Rink is a fantastic song, really well arranged with a beautiful vocal and a heartfelt story. It deserves a lot of attention, give it a listen and give the song some love.
Give Roller Rink a stream now:
https://open.spotify.com/album/1VNcdpaUWm2oL1LMO1Dt2v?si=vQLten6nQP-sH5BpoJAyjg
The Still, Small Voice can be followed on Website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify:
http://thestillsmallvoicemusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/tssvmusic/
https://instagram.com/thestill_smallvoice?igshid=gi16ur5sjunm
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4hIqFKNuT5w0Dx1k7b8Wpx?si=-2nO2w4rQ2W00bp74sgngg
