Reviewed by Trevor Kirk

Mark Stoney is a 21 year old from Sheffield and this CD launches the wonderfully named Holy Moly record label, a collective of songwriters based at St Thomas' Church at Crookes in the Steel City. His publicity handout describes the album as "an eclectic mix of bold melodies, melancholia and audacious humour", and the eclecticism of the album extends to the use of a strange collection of instruments, including swanee whistle, kazoo and Ghanaian xylophone (!), and the creation of a 14 voice virtual choir, in which every voice is Mark's! My appreciation of the eclecticism was hampered somewhat by the lack of a lyric sheet, but I quibble. Mark's style and vocal delivery reminded me of a younger Paul Poulton and despite the fact that this was recorded and produced in his basement, the technicals are all perfectly acceptable. In case you're wondering about the 14 voice virtual choir, the track in question, "The Mark Stoney Community Gospel Choir" is a genre-bending (I thought the blurb said 'gender-bending' on first reading!) fusion of fuzz-laden rock and black gospel; make of that what you will. The Christian content is at times oblique, but there are up-front messages to hear; "Take Me To The Rock", for example, is a rootsy/rocky testimony song using the well known phrase from Psalm 61:2. Rather an acquired taste, but worthy nonetheless.

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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