Reviewed by Philip Croft

There are two things that make Adrian very distinct from the vast majority of his contemporaries. First, is his ability to do things a little bit differently, rather than just sticking to the usual formula. Hence the album contains a few instrumentals, singing in Hebrew, a gospel choir at one point and on a good number tracks some very tasty electric guitar work. The second (and for me the most noticeable) thing that sets Adrian apart though is his willingness to sing about the subjects that others seemingly never consider or perhaps deem too controversial, or simply not commercial. The obvious tracks here are "Beautiful..Or What?", a song about disability; "Fear", a song about the holocaust written from the perspective of a young Jewish girl; and probably most appropriate for this Christmas time of year- "Nothing We Can Do From Here", a song all about the gulf between the rich and poor nations of the world and our seeming indifference to the problem.. "It's headlines and hard times, heartache and fear/But don't worry, there's nothing we can from here/With our hearts on our sleeves we know how to bleed/As we ring up the tills by the hour/What's mine is mine, what's their's is mine/It looks so good from our ivory towers." Overall, this is a very impressive collection. If I had to sum Adrian Snell up in as few words as possible, I'd simply say it like this: Soft pop, hard edge.

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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