Reviewed by Tony Cummings

BlackWood is the recording persona of Andrea Blackwood-Barnes, an Essex-based primary school teacher who for the last 18 months has been working on this, her debut album. With such dedication and with Andrea providing all the keys, programming and vocals (and even a snatch of violin) I was keen to hear 'Into The Light', particularly as she wrote that her music is electronica in "a variety of styles within that genre such as downtempo chill-out, soundtrack and more uptempo dance which is influenced by house and '80/'90s electronica." But unfortunately this set shows little or no grasp of dance music and on the tracks where a drum machine can be heard it is woefully undermixed. The downtempo tracks are more successful particularly when Andrea's ethereal voice interplays with the synth riffs. But even here there is a lack of melodic invention while most of the instrumentals start off interestingly enough but quickly meander into electronic music cliché. What a shame.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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