Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

Oldham-based singer/songwriter Martin S Bailey's debut EP is very much a homemade affair with all tracks written and performed by the man himself and recorded in what he calls his "man cave". Evidently seeking to honour God through his music, Bailey offers up five songs (six if you include a reprise) that employ a dated keyboard and drum machine sound that, whilst not offensive to the ear, makes for an end product that sounds a bit tired and cheesy. More development is needed to take Bailey's songs out of cliché territory (overworked phrases like "come Holy Spirit" repeated several times in the well-meaning "I Offer My Worship" being a case in point) and, although some nice chord progressions pop up here and there, there are unintentional similarities to more famous songs in some of the melody lines. For instance, parts of "We Enter Now" sound uncannily like the 1984 Jennifer Rush megahit "The Power Of Love" whilst the upbeat Isaiah-influenced title track smacks of Thin Lizzy's "Whiskey In The Jar". Bailey's voice is pleasant enough although he wavers a little on held notes and tonality is occasionally an issue - nothing a bit of auto-tuning software wouldn't fix though. An instrumental version of "1991", the first song he ever wrote, closes a valiant attempt at trying to make something out of very little resource and budget.

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