Sara Groves - Tell Me What You Know

Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

It's been a delight to see how Sara Groves' music has developed over the last 10 years. A fine singer and songwriter, she epitomises the artist who observes the world around her and writes songs from the heart of what she's discovering about life and the world. I have to confess that the charms of her hugely successful last album 'Add To The Beauty' completely passed me by but this new set has arrested me. Throughout there is an underlying theme of hope that comes bubbling through in the midst of a sometimes brutal and confusing world. Groves has never shied away from the difficult subjects and yet she always manages to find a glint of grace and a glimmer of truth in all of them. From the uplifting majestic pop of "When The Saints Go Marching In" to the heartfelt advice to her children on "Song For My Sons", Groves pens songs that connect. My favourite of the set is the co-write with Charlie Peacock "In The Girl There's A Room" which again contains that message of hope in a funky, bluesy production. Sara Groves is a true artist and the compositions here, with their recurrent themes of compassion for the broken and marginalised are surely the best this passionate crafter of songs has ever penned. Sara's best ever album.