Reviewed by Matthew Cordle

Right from the opening harp, swirling strings and vocal layers of the title track it's clear Sarah is no "standard fare" singer and her producer husband is no formulaic arranger. Her excellent material as part of Chasing Furies back in 1999 was somewhat reminiscent of the Cranberries in style, but this is a more fascinatingly quirky production. The arrangements have obviously been painstakingly crafted, with little oddities such as the offbeat quaver edit at the end of "Current", chopped up bits of vocals, mashed up and reversed strings, all adding greatly to the underlying acoustic instrumentation of harp, strings, piano and guitars. Musical song structures are not always predictable, often dropping back energy that's been built up rather than continuously building, and the drums are often used to build momentum with percussive toms patterns, for example, rather than beating out standard rock patterns. Sarah's vocals manage to simultaneously convey both power and delicate sweetness, moving effortlessly across her vocal register break point to both soar and purr. Of the songs Sarah states, "I hope that the listener will grab onto them [the songs] and say 'Yes! This is for me!' These are the songs of my heartbeat." Each song has a story, some of brokenness, but all are tinged with hope in the Saviour. "The Damaged" is inspired by the image of a woman from a third world country who had broken an arm but not had access to anyone medical to reset it, so it had grown deformed and unusable. The title track is a frustrated response to how the world tries to tear marriages apart or give up. One of my favourites is a beautiful declaration of the safety there is being kept in the palm of the hand of "The Galaxy Former". Sarah also has interesting blog entries on her website explaining the thinking behind some of the songs alongside some live performance videos. This helps to bring the songs alive. For example, "Laughter Comes Upon Us" takes on a new dimension when you understand the journey from childlessness to the gift of a child that it is based on. This is a brilliant CD with a truly fresh sound.

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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