Reviewed by Simon Eden

They say aim low and you'll never be disappointed. Well if your aim is to hear a Neil Young impression singing through a vocoder in a cave, you won't be disappointed here. Northamptonshire-based Nigel has written and recorded his first independent CD of seven songs. Most tracks have a jangly acoustic guitar foundation with a percussion accompaniment not of drums but of a variety of sounds including claves, tambourine and xylophones. Sadly, the timing is often out which is made worse when the percussion is mixed louder than the distant vocals. In "Pride", the harmonica holds the melody to a slow rhythm of horse hoofs and a strong wind effect which gives the track a cowboy feel. The last two tracks are instrumentals, the first of which has a merry-go-round keyboard feel building into "oomp-pah" overlaid with decent lead guitar work whilst the second has a keyboard base and an electric blues melody.

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.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.