Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

The fact that this album came out in 2002 and I'm just getting round to it shows how easy it is for American independent artists to fall through the gaps here in Cross Rhythms. Even artists whose work you admire. Chaffer was at the heart of one of my all time favourite bands, Waterdeep. After Squint Entertainment went belly up, various combinations of band members continued the Waterdeep name but only as an occasional independent concern. Chaffer returned to solo work and here he plays all the instruments himself except drums which are handled by Waterdeep member Brandon Graves. With songs written after 9/11 and following his mother's death from leukaemia, there is obviously a solemnity to the proceedings but Chaffer's faith means that there are sprinklings of hope to prevent the album becoming overwhelmingly dark. As a songwriter he has always managed to capture the light, dark and contradictions of life and that skill continues here as he pens an album of songs that thematically could be summed up as encouraging perseverance in the darkest of times. Musically the album is split into two halves. The first eight songs are presented in a band format with the usual blend of pop rock and gentle funk, tightly recorded. The second set of eight songs is a stripped down acoustic affair with Chaffer's voice and acoustic guitar carrying the songs beautifully. Favourite songs? "The Luckiest Man On the Face Of The World" is a phrase used by retiring baseball player Lou Gehrig whose career was cut short by a muscle wasting disease and uttered these words to describe himself at a benefit game in his honour. "Bring The Sadness Back In" looks at the way in which humanity masks its own aches by distractions and sin and you can feel Don longing for others to walk into the honesty that he himself inhabits. Part of that theme is continued on the excellent groove of "Man, I'm Gonna Sing" where Don lists all the things he is going to give away in order to live in the real. There's a sense of unburdening, of stripping away and approaching Jesus as a child, free from distractions.

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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