Reviewed by Paul S Ganney

Martin Little, aka Sleepy Vole, is an eccentric Scottish talent. His myspace page describes the genre as "christian/pop/shoegaze" of which the first two are pretty accurate - it's a bit too lively for the latter, as "The Glimpse" (probably the best track) clearly shows. This home produced debut opened very ambient, but then gave way to a single vocal and electric guitar (track 2: "Powernappin", one of the better tracks on the CD). It's not really Billy Bragg territory, though - the lyrics are less polemic and the guitar playing is more rock band. Sadly, it often sounds like Martin could have done with a full band. The vocals are good, the guitar playing very good. It's just not a very full sound. To be fair, Martin has done his "band dues" in Indafusion so I guess this was a conscious decision to play solo. Go to his myspace page and listen to "The Glimpse" - if you like that, you'll like the rest.

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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