Single Review: Candle Lights

Ant Tarrant has served his apprenticeship and it shows. Now back in New Zealand after following his muse to Central America and the US, where he was mentored in the art of song-writing and production, he’s settled in Kare Kare and opened up a music studio.

His third official release, Candle Lights, shows the benefits of honing his craft. It’s a slow-burn ballad with a reflective lyric that swells and surges around a beautiful piano motif, and a vocal dripping in emotion.

Although, it’s obvious this is a song straight from the heart, there’s some clever and poignant lyrics – “you choose you and don’t wait for me. I’m still stuck in a fantasy and I don’t know how long I’ll be” – which suggest it had its genesis in a relationship that ended when he left for foreign shores.

There’s another lovely line – “we’ll shine like two little candle lights but on opposite sides of the sea” – which is a touchingly sweet and heartfelt way of acknowledging the significance of the relationship.

I love this song and how it resonates with the best and most thoughtful in me. Tarrant may have worked at his craft but he comes across as a natural.