Reviewed by Brendan O'Regan

This debut by a Suffolk-based singer/songwriter has a lot going for it - well-crafted original songs, an intimate approach to the singing and a variety of musical approaches. Acoustic and electric guitars are most prominent and they are blended well. "Kingdom Of Heaven" has a Celtic feel to it, with added whistle and accordion, while "Mysterious River" and "Follow" are in more of a rock groove. Thematically the songs revolve around forgiveness, redemption and love, not surprising as Finny, aka John Finlinson, outlines on the sleevenotes how he came to the Gospel while serving a prison sentence, and continues these days in prison ministry. "Thank You" reflects on the attitudes of some real people he knew, and indeed he says in the sleevenotes that the songs are based on "simple observations of occurrences in my life". These beautifully designed notes not only provide the lyrics but detailed notes on the background of the songs, eg, showing the scriptural links of some songs as with "The Nicodemus Song". I felt that occasionally the songs needed to be sung with more confidence (eg, on the bonus track version of "Know The Truth", though I must say I enjoyed the added sax on this) and I wasn't keen on the spoken "Testimony", a story about lost keys. But this is still a pretty good effort.

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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