Reviewed by Tony Cummings

IN THE MAINSTREAM Awhile back I had a bizarre phone call from a manager who wanted a news story about the release of an Iain Archer single removed from the Cross Rhythms website as Iain didn't want to be associated with a Christian website and was concerned that secular journos doing a websearch on Iain might link him with the dread "Christian music". Such are the weird convolutions of today's Christian muso looking for mainstream credibility. But what of the Irish songsmith's music in 2004? Well, clearly his collaborations with The Reindeer Section and Snow Patrol have given him a new creative confidence and the deft production touches, like the way the acoustic intro of "A Few Conclusions" builds to a wall of noise; or Iain's mandolin adding texture to his guitar strum on "Boy Boy Boy"; or the cut away to electronic noises at the climax of "The Shadow" are all beautifully executed. Effective too is Iain's fragile, broken voice with its little flurries of falsetto. But his songs here are bleak and often sound like a dip into the trough of stereotypical singer/songwriter melancholia. So though Iain sings to his muse that "you want it dark as it can be" on "Boy Boy Boy", "your dreams are all static and white noise" on "Not Yourself" or "you suffer on your own" on "Summer Jets" even a compassionate believer will find difficulty in empathising with all this angst. Rather than intoning endlessly about "The Shadow" may I suggest that this most gifted songsmith occasionally turn his creative faculties to The Light?

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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