The Night Closed In - Song Noir is about as dark a record as you could imagine. It includes Auschwitz songs like This Way For The Gas, Ladies & Gentlemen (from The Life and Death Orchestra's 'Songs for the Betrayed World'), alongside a Charles Bukowski story - The Most Beautiful Woman In Town and a playboy drug dealer's short but exciting life in Trafficante. All in all, a record guaranteed to make you feel happy to be alive or as it says in Be Happy "Be happy, millions of people envy you."
Bill Smith has received critical acclaim for his musical 'Songs for the Betrayed World' which was performed around the country. The 2001 performance at the Edinburgh Festival gained five star ratings from both the Scotsman and the Edinburgh Review. It has also been praised by publications such as The Jewish Chronicle where it was said that it "Incorporat[ed] the outer limits of what humanity has proved capable of doing to itself in a song may seem incongruous, but Bill Smith and Bim Sinclair's compositions prove a compelling amalgam of Tom Waits' black vision with String Driven Thing's tortured humanity - and are searing in their simplicity."