Reviewed by Chris Webb

Albums of lullabies may not be to everyone's taste but when the singer/songwriter is Cross Rhythms favourite JJ Heller, our attention is bound to be grabbed. Obviously this is an album built around providing comforting Christian songs for children at bedtime and also complements the children's book The Golden Feather written by JJ and her husband. JJ is an accomplished musician here singing well-crafted light pop songs. However, there is a snag in the idea of writing an album of lullabies that will also appeal to adults. Lullabies are intended to send a fractious child off to dreamland in as short a time as possible. Lullabies being listened to one after another are bound to become rather soporific. The range of subject matter is also rather limited to pleasant dreams, positive hopes for the future and a mother being there to protect a child from harm; "Keep You Safe", "Daydream", "Sailing The Sugar Sea" and most of the other tracks reflect these key themes. That isn't to say this is an unpleasant album, on the contrary, it is delightfully played and sung, it has positive lyrics pointing towards God as the answer to need and the hope for the future. All the tracks are similar melodically and rhythmically as acoustic piano gently played, swirling strings, strummed acoustic guitar and smooth voice are designed to combine to gently quell sleeplessness into submission. So using it one track at a time to settle a child into happy somnolence will undoubtedly do the job for which it is intended.

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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