Reviewed by Trevor Kirk

I've raved about this team several times before, and those who have to put up with my presence on a daily basis are probably fed up of hearing me bang on about a West Yorkshire-based ensemble who could easily have dropped through a time warp from the days of St Columba. This time, Sarah and Richard Lacey, David Bird and Jon Large seem to have the services of Terl Bryant on a permanent basis, as he's moved from the "With" list to the "Are" list; the "withs" this time are Robin Thompson Clark and his cello, Simon Bernard-Smith and his whistles and Mick Doonan on the uillean pipes. As for material, there's more original stuff - seven out of the 14 are Lacey/Lacey/Bird compositions, the rest include songs from the Vineyard, Keith Green ("O Lord You're Beautiful", the antidote to the ferocious ska treatment given to it by The Insyderz) and Maranatha, along with a short, pipe-driven "Amazing Grace", which opens the album and sets the mood perfectly.. There are some up-tempo songs (as befits the 'Praise' tag) and whilst comparisons will no doubt be made with Iona, Eden's Bridge have a gentler style, and Sarah's voice is sufficiently un-Joanne Hogg-like to my ears for there to be room for both in my record library. Lovely stuff.

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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