Reviewed by Mark Cribben

Sara Taccardi has been involved with music most of her life including being part of Italian gospel vocal group Gospel Sound and backing vocals for numerous Italian music stars. 'Questo Sono Io' (This Is Who I Am) is her debut solo album having felt the call to take responsibility for representing herself and her faith in her way. A scary step and certainly a venture of faith in itself. This is the first release of this album and as such is only available in Italian. If you are going to head out on the solo road it is useful to have the support of gifted musicians to help you along. And it doesn't get much better than the experience of veteran songwriter Chris Eaton helping to pen over half the songs on the album and the accompanists include keyboard maestro Mark Edwards. Sara is no fresh faced teenager starting out in the business and the style of the music reflects that. This is a softer, more mature style of pop that misses the edge and in-your-face immediacy of today's chart pop. The album opens with "Eterno" which showcases some delicate and well polished interplay between the piano and guitar for the intro. It's actually quite a delicious musical moment and one to be savoured. At times the sound on the album veers strongly towards middle of the road Euro pop as the Latin drenched rhythms of "Lugar Celestial" and the ballad-orientated "Ti Diro". In the middle of the album is a cover of the Switchfoot song "Only Hope" (or rather "Guellochevorrei" as it is on the album) which doesn't manage to sound out of place. The album closes with the vaguely Celtic, hymn-like "Sempre" which turns out to be one of the standout songs of the collection. Overall, this feels very much more like an easy listening, gentle pop album that skirts that thin line between Euro pop and middle of the road. Sara-T has a fine voice and this is a pleasant album.

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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