Reviewed by Peter Dilley

His name sounds like a classic car, and I'd say there's a fair amount of class in what Riley Armstrong describes as "frantic acoustic music" - as writer, performer, engineer and producer the young Canadian should know what he's about. He starts well: "What I've Found" celebrates Jesus as "my strength, my hope, my second chances" with well-crafted, multi-overdubbed vocal chorus harmonies, a technique he develops on "Inside Your Promises". The exuberance of "Unfold" is infectious: "You put this joy in my heart, and you're what I want to sing about", and Riley mellows down as "Different Is Beautiful" rejoices in human diversity. But for me it all goes wrong with "The Recipe", literally a recipe for baking banana bread read out with musical backing. Not clever and not funny, especially once you've heard it several times. A transatlantic sense of humour clash perhaps, but I hope this gets edited out of the final version of the CD, or at least moved to a "hidden" slot at the end. It rather spoils the flow of some decent music.

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