Reviewed by Tony Cummings

After the hype generated by the insular London gospel scene, I expected this debut album by Ms Teibo to be seriously hot. And certainly it has its moments with the opener "Walk With Me ftg Ryan Carty" having an infectious groove with a hint of tribal funk and "Save Me" featuring some old school walking bass, some sistahs cooing the title and Sarah showing off her full range of vocal ducks and octave-leaps. But too often the minimalist production sounds like something a hip-hop man could put together in his bedroom studio over a weekend. The jazz-orientated ballads have plenty of stylish piano glissandos behind Sarah's sweet and soulful phrasing but never engage the listener with strong enough melodies or memorable lyrics. In fact throughout the lyrics are hardly profound with thoughts like "Don't let nothing bring you down" or "You are special" falling rather flat. A tasty dance groove remix of "Steal My Joy" by Marcus Johnson almost rescues the album at the close but in truth publicist speak about Sarah's "uniquely soulful yet contemporary style and powerful lyrics" are way over the top in describing a promising, yet flawed, debut.

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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