Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Skie are duo Steve and Laura Hart who look like a brother and sister duo recording at their father's studio. There are other artists on HartMusic Records, unfortunately their website doesn't seem keen to inform the visitor in much detail. As for Skie, multi-instrumentalist Steve puts together the lion's share of the music and sings. Laura meanwhile takes a share of the instrumental duties and also writes and sings. So there's plenty of talent on display. As for this album, it works in places and falls flat in others. Vocally the strength is definitely with Laura and there were times when I wished that Steve would just leave her to do the singing. Unfortunately when it came to Laura's songs, her voice isn't really suited to their up tempo stuff like "You Are Good" and "Protected" even though both songs highlight her excellent harmonies and gorgeous emotive voice. But on the slower stuff her contribution to "Angel Of Mine" and "Here I Stand" really shines. Overall, considering they have access to their own studio, I was expecting something much stronger production wise but this is a little bit raggedy with some songs fading suddenly and the overall sound balance at the mastering stage make some tracks significantly louder than others. There's talent here and while 'Mystery' has its moments, the duo need to spend more time rethinking and polishing because they sound capable of creating something that will knock me off my feet.

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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