Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

According to the credits, all songs on this completely instrumental album were created and arranged by Wiltshire-based songwriter John E Wright but, reading between the lines, it appears that multi-instrumentalist producer Pete Lamb has brought each piece to life by creating a full band sound that generally exudes warmth and charm. Taking centre stage is Lamb's delightfully fluid lead guitar playing - think Hank Marvin and you'd not be far off - with atmospheric tracks like the "Hidden In His Shadow" and "Akustika" showcasing what the man can do with six strings, a few harmonies and a shedload of reverb. Elsewhere, the driving opener "Finagel" and the jaunty "Thursday Melonge" work really well despite the homespun nature of the album's overall production whilst the meaningful "Is Life A Straight Line" is quite memorable in its own way thanks to Lamb's guitar work. Unfortunately, there are times when proceedings dip below par with pedestrian attempts at blues and bluegrass on "Blues Queue" and "Too Fast To Go Slow" sounding more pastiche than panache whilst a needless acoustic guitar-only remake of the aforementioned "Akustika" is not helped by the fact that it sounds like it was captured on a Dictaphone. Betraying the perhaps hurried nature of the album's production, there are some acoustic guitar tonality issues on one of two versions of "Where To Now?" - the other claiming to be orchestral but really just with added strings sounds from a keyboard - but, again thanks to Lamb's lead guitar playing, this is, in part, an enjoyable release that works in its own sweet way.

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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