Reviewed by Helen Dean

With excellent support from the likes of Mark Edwards, Terl Bryant and Mark Prentice, Paul presents 11 of his own well crafted songs. The Sheffield songsmith's pleasant voice and his various stringed instruments are ably underpinned by the experienced musos. Lyrics tackle recent world events, such as the release of Aung San Suu Kyi ("Blazing Clouds"), freedom for the Chilean miners in the bright opener "Coming Up", and the Haitian earthquake ("While We Sleep Tonight") give a thoughtful lyrical approach, mellow without being mawkish. These aspirations to make a difference and expressions of Christian hope are carried over successfully into "Extremists Of Love And Grace", "Dreams Of Home" and "Same Planet, Different World". Hannah Holland adds a lovely sweet harmony to the song about the "Love" of 1 Corinthians 13 and on the beautiful title track. To lighten the mood there are some fun songs - about pullovers (part Twitter collaboration "Too Much Difference", with a touch of Madness) and jazzy "They Go Together" about great life-pairings - particularly when doing festival gigs. Personally though, I'd prefer to hear the serious stuff developed further. So, the shades of dark could be more pointed but this is definitely an album which sheds plenty of light and warmth.

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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