Reviewed by Eliz Cooke

This is the first solo album for singer/songwriter Amy Cole. Originating from Nebraska, Cole has previously been in the band Soulbelly who won the best new artist award from the Los Angeles Music Awards. This 10-track album features one original work, "Where You Are", a love song to the Lord expressing her desire to remain with him and to praise him. A fairly simple and basic song, however it is the nine other traditional hymns on the CD that catch the attention. These are brand new re-workings of old standards like the Celtic "Be Thou My Vision", the John Newton evergreen "Amazing Grace" and the Negro spiritual "Were You There?" The songs are nearly unrecognisable from the originals as only the lyrics have been retained, with new music by Cole and producer Markus Gerakos. Most tracks feature some rather groovy atmospheric rhythms while Amy's vocals are pure class. This is a debut that deserves to escape from independent release obscurity.

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