Allan McKinlay - Scottish Worship (Live At Stanely House)

Published Sunday 21st August 2016
Allan McKinlay - Scottish Worship (Live At Stanely House)
Allan McKinlay - Scottish Worship (Live At Stanely House)

STYLE: Pop
RATING 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 162295-24144
LABEL: Independent
FORMAT: CD EP
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

Scottish singer/songwriter McKinlay has forged his own path in the field of worship music over the past few years with each release building on the previous one in terms of artistic strength. As with any good run of releases, there comes a time when the artist needs to try something a bit different or simply draw breath and McKinlay has done just that by issuing a five-track EP recorded live at the plush-looking Stanely House in Paisley. McKinlay has teamed up with multi-instrumentalist producer Pete Crockett for help on the songwriting front and the pair have come up with a batch of songs that each offer themselves to different worship scenarios. For instance, the infectiously upbeat opener "I Wanna Know You" is a ceilidh anthem chock full of reels and whistles - reminiscent of Eden Burning in their heyday - whilst the likes of the big prophetic number "Where The River Flows" and the intimate "I Will Love You Lord" highlight both ends of the EP's scale. Thankfully, McKinlay and Crockett have chosen to avoid the bog standard driving guitar and pounding drums approach of many modern worship releases and have instead employed a raft of harps, fiddles, whistles and the like to supplement the band - all of which act as a fitting backdrop to McKinlay's now characteristically sincere vocal delivery. The modern metric psalm "Give Thanks To God" ends an enjoyable release in confident fashion summing up what not only sounded like a great evening but also McKinlay's desire to continue moving forward as a worship artist.

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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Reader Comments

Posted by James Faddes in Glasgow @ 12:14 on Aug 23 2016

Allan, Pete and the team have created a superb live worship EP like none I have heard before. A uniquely Scottish sound with prophetic lyrics and a great micx of traditional instruments. Brilliant vocals from Allan as usual. An authentic, passionate, haunting, releasing album. So glad to be enjoying this EP - 'Give Thanks To God' is one of my fav's at the moment - it declares and celebrates the goodness of God in the spirit of the Psalms. One heard you may find yourself, like me, singing it through the day like you had known it all your life. Excellent stuff.



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