Dark Streets Posted at 2016-01-29 Dark Streets available on cdbaby & itunes It’s cocktail hour, and you’re high above the city lights — time to loosen your buttons or hers, and slide into a long cool drink. Now just ease into the title track of Michael StClair’s new Dark Streets, a record that kicks back with easy listening, smooth jazz and world music soundscapes. StClair’s absorbing new concoction of audio “paintings” ripples with soul, jazz, progressive, blues and Afro beats. It also showcases his eclectic, multi-faceted guitar skills that recall George Benson and Wes Montgomery to Al Di Meola at their very tastiest. Guitarist, producer and award-winning songwriter StClair also infuses Dark Streets’ soundscapes with his international influences — born in England, he immigrated to Toronto where he honed his budding craft before briefly immersing himself in his Jamaican roots and rhythms. Now based on Vancouver’s laid-back Island, StClair’s West coast shift has reinvigorated him. His “Hey You” is a funky twirl on the dance floor that segues into a haunting North African soundscape. And his version of Chaplin’s classic “Smile” is a gorgeous, enlivened take with progressive undertones. “Light up your face with gladness” by taking a long cool trip along StClair’s Dark streets