Reviewed by Jennifer Brooker

Don't, whatever you do, try actually listening to this! As musical wallpaper, it's fine, but that's all. The blurb, of course, promises all manner of spiritual benefits from decorating your daily experiences with this particular company's wallpaper: "Each Fairhope recording has been lovingly crafted for you, the listener, by the finest songwriters, producers, musicians, and singers...to bring you into a deeper spiritual place...whether you listen in your car, in the kitchen, or in your living room", etc, etc. "What about the bath?" asked my husband. However, I tried these out in our living room, with (I hope) a slightly more receptive attitude: after all, with a family member recently diagnosed as having secondary cancer, any additional comfort/refreshment going would be welcome. So why did none come? Well for a start, there are no singers (naturally, since these are instrumental albums, but unless the arrangements are very good indeed, a worship song without words is a contradiction in terms). But it gets worse: there do not appear to be any musicians either! There are no credits for live performers anywhere on the insert leaflet, and the high-gloss sound and inhumanly accurate playing smack of someone programming an expensive sequencer.

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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