Reviewed by Andrew Rolfe

"So the evening and the morning where the first day"...and only day. "All nine acoustic guitar pieces were written and recorded one summer day," so says the CD cover blurb. Then they were forgotten about. Some time later the husband and wife team were inspired to read a Psalm at the end of each and later still to add "...ethereal electric guitar with ebow under the readings as a backdrop." No doubt about it, Gene Koebler can play sweet acoustic guitar and his wife has a lovely voice for reading the good book. But something doesn't quite work. I think I know what it is: The guitar pieces are too short. They average about one minute 17 seconds with the Psalm readings averaging out at nearly two minutes. I really enjoy Phil Keaggy's amplified acoustic tunes and Glenn Kaiser's unplugged worship and the guitar pieces here are reminiscent of those artists. Gene bends the strings as good as any, only not for quite as long. Without fail, I'd be just getting into the mood of the guitar piece when it abruptly ended. Quite disappointing. I wanted more. And why not? Gene's playing is technically polished with nice scaling up and down the fret board, string-bending solos, ambient chord overlays, two guitars overlapping providing soothing harmonies: an all-round acoustic work of art. The technique is tight and the end result is calming and recreational, but it's just too short and I'm repeating myself. As for the lyrics, they're by King David and spoken by Mrs Koebler. Her voice is of a middle tone and as such perfect for recording. However, she tends to be a bit pronounced, a bit too well enunciated and the ambient backdrop music can hardly be heard over the voice.

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