Reviewed by Paul Poulton

One snare drum, one acoustic guitar and two voices sound surprisingly good when played by Dan Johnson and active youth worker Pete Ward, who make up Trevor Speaks. I loved the driving dynamics, percussive progressions and cascading chords. Nice tinges of blues grace the well worked out harmonies, but nasty touches of melancholy slip into the lyrics and smear the songs. The duo sing Oxford town is the pits and then coarsely tell me about the canine deposits that litter the streets, which I don't really want to hear about when I'm eating my weetabix. In the song "Squeaky Clean", they throw in a caricatured version of "Bind Us Together, Lord". The satire searches to make a point but falls apart like a soggy biscuit dipped too long in a cup of coffee. The only non-original song on the album is Van Morrison's "Warm Love", which is performed with feeling and well worth hearing. These men are definitely talented.

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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