Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

As many festival-goers will know, this decidedly left of centre Nottinghamshire-based trio have succeeded in carving out a niche for themselves in the somewhat specialist field of acoustic hip-hop. The release of their first full length album sees the Connection continue to offer their own brand of light-hearted but nonetheless skilful songs with the aim, as stated in the tongue in cheek opening track "The AFC Are The Greatest", of making you giggle. With this in mind, a number of humorous tracks and some deft comical interludes follow with the likes of "Ginger Pride" documenting vocalist and former Psalmistry rapper Edi Johnston's burdensome hair colour whilst "Everybody Knows Dave" is a fun tribute to the world's most congenial Christian name. More serious topics such as addiction and human flaws are covered in "Can You See The Stars?" and "Hope This Is A Rehearsal" and, whilst the boys' Christian faith remains largely unreferenced, this shows a more mature side to their persona. In truth, it's the skill and warmth of performance that makes this release so pleasing with Johnston's charismatic personality shining through on every song and the obvious talents of guitarist Mark Finney and beatboxer Jack "Hobbit" Hobbs (check out "Hobbitskit v2.0" for a taste of the latter's skills) ensuring that this is a hugely enjoyable set.

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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