Reviewed by Matthew Cordle

Wales is obviously a country widely known for its heritage of song, whether historic folk song or the huge amount of material birthed as a result of the Welsh 1904 revival. Sound Of Wales (SOW) is a ministry devoted to celebrating the spiritual musical heritage of Wales, training and developing communities of worship and revealing the glory of Jesus on earth through gospel-centred music. From within that ministry comes SOW Acappella, a project comprising three ladies (Hannah Barnes, Jessica Morgan and Cath Woolridge), dedicated to the simple, yet richly dynamic possibilities of vocal harmony. They are three very competent singers and, whilst it's not physically possible to have as full a sound as with four voices, their voices blend well and they are able to create a rich textural sound. They sing a mixture of ancient and modern hymns along with a couple of traditional Welsh folk songs, and the ladies have put their own stamp on each with new arrangements. As an example, "Gloria" is an interesting composite of "Angels We Have Heard On High", "Angels From the Realms Of Glory" and Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus", one moment sounding traditionally choral, another sounding more like Nashville vocal group First Call. In contrast, the antiphonal style of Kirk Franklin's "Jesus Paid It All" is very "gospel" in performance style, demonstrating the trio's flexibility. Whilst the intonation is mostly very good, there are a few tuning and timing moments and, most noticeably, the synchronisation on the opening "O Come Let Us Adore Him" really should have been worked on more. In some songs you get the feeling that the bellows are stridently blasting on full all the time. . .a little more sweetness would have been welcome. The highlight for me was the emotive "Ancient Wells", a plea for God to release his blessing on Wales once again. A well presented collection of songs in an original style that I imagine would sound great live.

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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