Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

This is technically Lucy's second EP release although she does describe this five song collection as a demo in the covering letter that accompanies her CDR (the artwork and inlay booklet are yet to be completed at the time of writing.) Lucy is a 24 year old singer/songwriter from Sale in Cheshire and has written all of the material on display here as well as playing every instrument. Lucy is very up front in admitting that her voice, in her own words, "isn't the best but it seems the quickest way of getting my songs out to an audience" and the album "probably isn't suitable for radio." The proceedings kick off with the piano led "Holy" and sets the scene for a collection of personal devotions to Lucy's Saviour which cover our inadequacies compared to his grace. With only drums to accompany the vocals and piano, the delivery is sparse and certainly takes away from the potential of the song. "Fractions" is primarily let down by the structure and quality of the song itself which does not live up to its competent lyrical content. In addition, the production of this track betrays the fact that this collection has been recorded in Lucy's church on an eight track machine and includes a very tinny guitar, unclear vocals and some ill-advised hand clap percussion. "This Is The Day" and "Accepting Love..." show more promise with the former getting to grips with the fact that we do not turn to God as often as we should when things go wrong. Lucy's piano playing on this track is ideally suited to the song and, with some Alisha's Attic-styled harmonies, show her vocals in a slightly better light. The EP's closer "The Guilt Has Gone" has very little direction both lyrically and musically and is a case in point that Lucy needs to spend a great deal more time in the writing, structuring and refining of her songs.

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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