Reviewed by Ian Hayter

Celeste Friedman is the granddaughter of a big-band leader (Leo Reichert), has been Grammy-nominated and is a seasoned composer of music for the theatre, film and TV. She's also worked as a producer and host on radio and television. So this latest album comes with a lot of promise. Add to that a nomination for Indie Artist Of The Year in The Netherlands and you'd be expecting great things. Alas! Dutch indie music must be very different from the British stuff. This is a fairly ordinary set of medium tempo ballads which stray far further into country territory than anywhere else. The title track is an inspirational song based on the idea that the tide always comes back to float the grounded boat, a metaphor stretched rather too far in this version. "A Home Run" is drawn from her father's motivational musings to his children and "You Can Talk To The Angels" rides the current wave of interest in supernatural beings. Sprinkled throughout the lyrics of these 12 songs are quotations from the Bible, but the language of the Authorised (King James) Version seems, as always, to jar against the rest of the words. A reviewer in the Boston Globe opined that "everyone should be singing her songs", but few impartial listeners would subscribe to that. The performance is competent, the arrangements are pleasant, but the album as a whole lacks any real spark.

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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