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I am not a very big fan of what is commonly called worship & praise music. I find most of it fairly shallow and of little interest. There are of course a few notable exceptions such as David Fitzgerald, Kemper Crabb and now you can add Fergus Marsh to that list. For those who are unfamiliar with Mr. Marsh, let me drop a few names. He has played bass guitar and Chapman Stick for the likes of Mark Heard, Bruce Cockburn and Steve Bell. As a matter of fact this release is on Bell's label, "Signpost Music" hailing out of Canada.

The Chapman Stick is a ten or twelve stringed instrument on which the various notes are tapped instead of plucked or strummed. You can therefore play a bass and lead part simultaneously. It is in the hands of a good player a wonder to behold and Fergus Marsh is quite a good player. Lyrically this album is fairly simple in its content. The lyrics for the song entitled "Emmanuel" consist solely of  "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you, you are my beloved children". While the lyrics to the tune "Worthy" consist of the phrase, "Worthy is the Lamb, angel voices sing, Seraphim surround, holy is His name". The content might not be absolutely ground breaking but when you put each of these together with the music that accompanies it, oh my goodness, this is a great collection of tunes.

Musically the album would fall into an electric groove/ world music feel that just carries you along on a wave of exquisite sounds. The combination of Fergus on the Chapman Stick, his brother Hugh on electric violin and various percussion players make for one incredibly strong project. The vocals are supplied by different artists, the only one that I was familiar with was Steve Bell, but I definitely need to check these other folks out. They are all top notch singers who I can only hope have recorded other material. Now all we have to do is get Fergus to come south of the border and do some gigs down here. With the exception of "Psalm 63" by Rachel Brooks, all of the tunes are original compositions written by Fergus with assistance on lyrics on one tune from Lynn Marsh. 

Special note needs to made of the excellent artwork by Rebekah Cummings, it perfectly compliments the music contained on the inside. This is just a great, great album which can be enjoyed as a meditative enhancement or simply as groovy listening experience.

Chris MacIntosh aka Grandfather Rock