Reviewed by Adrian Cherrill

The potential danger of instrumental albums that purport to be for meditation is that in reality they are just a set of songs in the same style, with little variation or thought, and often a "theme" seems to be tagged on for good measure. Fortunately Ralf Helfrich's offering based around the Greek word 'Anapauo' (which means "rest") is much better than that. Ralf is clearly a talented musician; he plays everything on this collection and has obviously given a lot of thought about how the music fits the themes. Based around either piano or guitar, sometimes with a rhythm track or keyboard to add depth, each song has an accompanying text and Bible verse and when listened to as a whole works pretty well. Probably the best tracks are "Let Go" with its deft changes in rhythm and "Plan & Purpose" with its recurring piano motif in between different sections, and there is a clear production which allows the quieter moments to still be easily heard. If there was any criticism it's that maybe one or two of the tracks could have been a little longer. With 12 tracks in just under 40 minutes, some seem to be over just as you're getting into them. But don't let that stop you hunting this one down if you want a bit of quiet meditation with some thoughtful text, you won't be disappointed.

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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