Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

In the UK shops in November, and Dashboard Saint is the brainchild of Californian's Carla and Tim White. Sovereign Productions are certainly proving to be a label who like to take some risks when it comes to producing worship music. An eclectic mix of styles that works simply because the songwriting is so strong, the performances so passionate and the creativity so hot. If you want to talk details, let's choose a few noisy songs to get excited about. If you're looking for magnificent layers of Britpop guitars and a Beatley melody, Fold Zandura's Jyro Xahn captures the vocal vibe on "Into Your Holiness". The edgy dance groove of "Higher" features Tyrone Wells, singer from Skypark, lifting up Jesus. It gets even edgier when they remix it at the end of the album and there's an amazing moment when Dashboard sample a preacher - incredible stuff. "Tide Wash Over Me" is built on a huge rhythm pattern, piles of loud organ, a choir of voices and Joshua Thompson's singing. There are huge and powerful songs and then there's more! This CD is also packed with huge dollops of ambience whether it's the wash of sound that underpins "In You" and the amazing "Thank You", or the outstanding emotional vocals from former Violet Burning singer Jaime Eichler on "Jesus" and one of the album highlights, the ballad "I Confess". One other highlight is the SCSI song "Be The One" featuring Sharon McFeeters and the surprise appearance of a choir. On a cute family note, Carta and Tim White join with their son Dylan to play on "He Rose" which Dylan wrote when he was six! Cute and quirky! Overall, the best recommendation I can make is that if you hate worship albums, I can guarantee you'll love this! The only criticism I have is that the album lacks a little cohesion so it falls victim to its eclectic sound. Close to a classic!

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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