Swallow the Sea
Artist: Matthew Perryman Jones 
Label: Emergent / 92E 

Matthew Perryman Jones is a hidden talent that someone needs to expose. With a sound that can touch the majestic Lanois and Eno, atmospheres of U2, or the piano driven radio pop rock of Coldplay, he can bring that solo artist's autonomy to bear on the entire record which allows variety without losing an overall unity. You can see why Jones's songs are picked up for TV shows like _One Tree Hill_ with their mood, space, and deep rooted emotion. This is a top notch collection of songs of love and faith and truth in a voice that wraps itself around your soul with its strength and warmth. Everything has the quality of big label but there is a sense of a man doing his own art without any need or desire to be the next big thing though I guess if he sold one million copies his family might benefit from it.

"Save Me" has been around for awhile and, if he really was Coldplay, would be the multimillion selling single. A swampy blues version of "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" which is as original a cover of this old Negro Spiritual as I have heard in a while (and collecting versions of it is a little side hobby of mine) rattles and rages a bit like U2's "Silver and Gold." "Song For Canaan" is his tender lullaby of fatherhood. "Car Crash" is a bonus track that energizes the soul with a courageous strength to resist the empty fantasies and illusions of a modern world. Jones' songs need replayed to get the full gist of his raison d'etre and the music is so good you are more than happy to get to the end and go right back to the beginning. 
   
Steve Stockman

Steve Stockman is the Presbyterian Chaplain at Queens University, Belfast, Ireland, where he lives in community with 88 students. He has written two books Walk On; The Spiritual Journey of U2 which he is currently updating and The Rock Cries Out; Discovering Eternal Truth in Unlikely Music. He dabbles in poetry and songwriting and he has a weekly radio show on BBC Radio Ulster (listen anytime of day or night @ www.bbc.co.uk/ni/religion/rhythmandsoul). He has his own web page--Rhythms of Redemption at http://stocki.ni.org . He also tries to spend some time with his wife Janice and daughters Caitlin and Jasmine.