Reviewed by Trevor Kirk

If you’re not acquainted with New Testament Greek, you might like to know that the meaning of the word that is the title of this album equates to such concepts as sympathy, mercy and compassion which manifests itself chiefly in acts rather than words. As regards the thing itself, Janet Rainey is from Northern Ireland, a member of a very musical family, and her sister is Kathryn Scott, who is one of the worship leaders at the South West London Vineyard. Also appearing, ex-Liberation Suite front man Barry Bynum, who’s been a tireless encourager and supporter of many grassroots Irish musicians over the years; as well as playing, Barry produced and engineered, using the Upstream recording studios in Coleraine, Co Antrim. The songwriting credits are mainly down the Kathryn and Barry, but there’s one of Julie Miller’s (“Broken Things”), and “Revelation” by Matthew Cordner (son of Rodney, long time denizen of Irish folk scene), with Matthew himself providing a virtuoso accompaniment on acoustic guitar. Inevitable comparisons will be made between Janet and Kathryn, who has a voice of rare emotion and power (listen to “Child Of God” on the ‘Hungry’ album from the Vineyard to see what I mean), and if truth be told, Janet has a way to go to match her. That’s not to say that she won’t get there eventually; I know of several female singers whose voices have matured with time into instruments of rare quality. It’ll be interesting to see and hear how things develop; meanwhile, this album is a step in the right direction.

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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