Reviewed by John Daniels

The Smiling Strangers from Stafford are a seven-piece band, formed mainly of former members of Solid Air and The Ordained, the album showcasing the writing talents of the new band's founder Jeff Reynolds. The album is a series of love songs which aren't all obviously also "God songs", but that's not a problem. The opening three tracks "Before I Fall", "Somebody Knows My Name" and "Sometimes", all arguably fall into this category. As does "Warm Tonight" with its mellow jazz influences with overtones of The Beautiful South. But as you venture further in to the album, the spiritual content becomes increasingly more overt. This process culminating in a song of searching in the rock influenced "Waiting", the contrasting wholesale commitment of "Covenant" and then, finally, the nine minute worship sequence of "Forty". This latter is two distinct tracks, the second of which isn't listed and almost an after thought, arriving after a pause for reflection of nearly 30 seconds. Although the album was obviously recorded on a budget, the resultant "as live/unplugged" sound simply enhances the style of the music. Alas no words, or full song details on the CD inlay card, just very brief comments on each track; perhaps that will change next time. Not much else needs to change.

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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