Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

The Bowery are a Dutch duo consisting of Rokus Maasland and Ramon Scherrenberg and this six track EP finds the pair as nature intended playing live in front of a small but appreciate audience with nothing much more than a couple of acoustic guitars and a 'cello for accompaniment. Whilst there's nothing polished about their performance, Scherrenberg's straightforward guitarwork and Maasland's raspy English-sung vocals give an immediacy to proceedings which in turn helps them to adequately communicate the raw and honest aspects of faith that their songs cover. For instance, "Forbidden Fruit" and "Two Horizons" deal with choosing either God's way or the wrong way whilst "End Of The Storm" and "Don't Stop The Rain" are passionately portrayed representations of the lads' personal relationships with God. Lengthy song introductions delivered in the duo's native Dutch tend to sap the momentum from this intimate set and "The Elephant" - detailing the problem of having a metaphorical large mammal in the room - gets a bit lost in translation. But this is nonetheless an enjoyable offering from the Bowery boys.

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.