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 PrintableVersion This is for youBeating TimeTITLE: THIS IS FOR YOU COL316: 4 stars Andy Mayo first picked up the guitar at the age of 12, and it quickly became a part of him — ‘the fret-board never far from my fingers’ as he rather poetically puts it. Early influences included Sade, Muddy Waters and Otis Reading, and he was always keen to provide ‘a bit of music’ for friends. Later on he would spend free weekends busking at Oxford Circus tube station. At 17, Andy started writing songs about his King and Saviour, and soon found that this opened many doors for the gospel among his friends. University missions in Birmingham, Cardiff and London provided opportunities to take the message of Jesus to wider audiences, while teaming up with jazz saxophonist Nick Beston expanded his musical horizons. SerbiaIn 1996 Andy and his wife moved to Serbia to work with local believers, under the auspices of Oak Hall, in training and sending out indigenous Serb, Croat and Bosnian missionaries. Experiences in the turbulent Balkans have had a profound influence on his music. His first studio album Dreams Of A Homecoming contains songs penned in the brutal context of war, ethnic cleansing, refugees and bombing. Yet Andy's music is far from dark and depressing. This Is For You exudes faith, hope, love and integrity. Andy's poetry is fairly free in metre and rhyme (it has little of either), yet his unpolished narrative style is refreshingly honest and surprisingly easy on the ear. ‘Old church and cathedral steeples stand silhouetted against the grey city sky / Interspersed with block-shaped tall buildings: the cheapest mass housing the city-planners could buy / Someone pushes a creaking, rusting pushchair through the leafy park below me / She pushes it past grey-black monuments dedicated to the faded glory of what used to be / Sometimes life loses meaning when I lose sight of You / Sometimes life seems slow moving when I stop listening to You ...’ This is definitely music to listen to (i.e. not for congregational singing), but you will find your feet tapping along, and some of Andy's catchier tunes will definitely get stuck in your head. There is plenty of variety in the texture and colour of the tracks. Some may detect gypsy and Balkan influences. The quality of musicianship is high, with some excellent jazz improvisations and interplay. Andy's voice is quite distinct, but not unpleasant, and he mixes spoken and sung lyrics to good effect. Andy will be performing in the Stage music tent at Cheltenham Bible Festival. Be there! PGDH
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