Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

For her third album, Cameroon-born, London-based singer/songwriter Francoise Mbong has teamed up with multi-instrumentalist and producer Luke Henderson for a collection of English and French-sung songs that tell of her love for Jesus. Despite Henderson's valiant efforts and a bolstering turn from backing singer Ivelina Tsoneva, the material on offer here really isn't up to scratch with many of the tracks being repetitive, overlong and lyrically undeveloped - repeated lines like "Jesus, I love you, love you, love you, love you, I love you Lord" in "I Love Jesus" being a prime example of what's on offer here. Proceedings are further hampered by Mbong's notably weak lower register voice and she quite often struggles to stay on the note - thanks in part to what sounds like an involuntary vibrato. In addition, there is an overriding bland feel which is broken temporarily by the rockier "The Son Of God" - the best of the bunch thanks to a scene-stealing guitar solo from Henderson - whilst forays into very basic dance music in the likes of "Le Saint Des Saints" and "My Lord" attempt but fail to shake this release out of a sizeable middle of the road rut. Whilst Mbong's love for God is clear, this album will sadly not have an appeal beyond the singer's friends and family on account of the problems mentioned earlier.

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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