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ROB HALLIGAN - Love Come Down

ROB HALLIGAN - Love Come Down
Blatant Promotions RHCD013

Rob Halligan is a singer songwriter from the Coventry area. We recently heard him in an afternoon slot at the Cork Folk Festival where, over the course of a very short set, he had the audience on his side and singing his choruses back to him in no time. No mean feat for an artist who, presumably, not many had heard of before. I was impressed.

He is no stranger to the studio and Love Come Down is his latest release which features 12 of his own songs. On it, the voice and acoustic guitar combo that we heard in Cork is replaced by a fairly full, electric band sound, so it is a bit more rocked up and a good bit less folky sounding than his solo performance.

However, the quality of his songwriting shines through. The songs are well-written and thoughtful in nature, and Rob sings them in his warm and pleasing voice – the same ability to communicate in evidence on the recording as was present on the stage. The songs are predominantly about his Christian faith, and his view of the world and his own life from that perspective. They wouldn’t be out of place in a Christian conference somewhere and yet, because they are so well-written, they stand up equally well in a more general contemporary singer songwriter context.

Fearfully And Wonderfully is one of the more reflective tracks, with stripped back piano accompaniment and some of the words taken straight from the Bible. I Can’t Make You Walk’s message is a bit more subtle, and this one is given the full band treatment – its catchy chorus easily gets stuck in your head.

Rob is a skilled songwriter and good singer who, on the evidence of this recording, deserves wider acknowledgment. It’s not one for those who like their music on the trad side though.

www.robhalligan.co.uk

Fiona Heywood


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This album was reviewed in Issue 116 of The Living Tradition magazine.