Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

This three-track offering from prolific Northumberland-based folk singer Gareth Davies-Jones arose from a series of songwriting workshops aimed at creating music to celebrate the opening of the Mining Art Gallery in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. Thanks to his well-honed skills as a writer, Davies-Jones pulls off this concept-led mini release in style with the folksy stomper of a title track capturing the hope, beauty and light that can break through in even the darkest and dankest of working conditions whilst articulating something of the legacy that the men who toiled in the mines left behind. Next up is the tender "Miner & Child" which quietly but succinctly communicates the inner turmoil faced by miners and their families amidst dangerous working conditions and future uncertainty whilst the banjo-led instrumental "The Last Shift" is a poignant coda to an all too brief but nonetheless satisfying release.

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