Having “a passion for writing songs for the local church” with an emphasis upon writing “about his personal walk with God while staying rooted in scripture”, Olly Kiff has been creating songs since 2002. Originally from Manchester and now based in Buckinghamshire, in 2021 he released his ‘Whole World’ and ‘Lead me to the Rock’ EPs. His 2022 acoustic-based ‘Odds, Ends and Godsends’ was subsequently well reviewed by NFN and listening back to that eight-tracker, I can understand why. Here we have Olly’s latest offering – at ten tracks, his first ‘album’, that mostly returns to the ‘full band’ guitar-led sound of the 2021 releases. We kick off with the upbeat rocker ‘You’re the One’. This is followed by the mid-paced title track – a good song, but Olly uses a sort of ‘Elvis Costello-ish’ delivery that becomes apparent to varying degrees during the rest of the album. I have a lot of time for Declan Patrick MacManus OBE(!), but the punkish attitude of his alter ego just doesn’t seem to sit well with Olly’s lyrical content – and this aspect begins to spoil things for me as the album continues, including the well written rock-pop ballad next track ‘Better than before’. Featuring Amy Fokkens on vocals, the following acoustic guitar-backed ‘At His name’ is similarly strong melodically and lyrically and includes nice harmonies – although I kept hoping for some subtle drums/percussion that never arrived. ‘I believe’ is Olly’s take on the creed and is one of the best tracks. The under-produced but otherwise worthy ‘Better than life’ includes a hooky chorus, is from Psalm 63 and features Emily Brake on vocals. Olly then delivers ‘Magnify the Lord’ which is based on Psalm 8. This is followed by ‘Ever praise You’ – from Psalm 71, with simple backing that would have benefitted from more development but features a lovely melody with beautiful liquid vocals by Alison Kitt. I struggle to listen to Olly’s particularly affected delivery as the piano-led ‘For an audience of one’ begins – which is otherwise strong, with effective female backing harmonies. The drums and grunge guitar ‘Come and see’ proves to be a worthy closer. The makings of a good album then, with well written songs. In comparison with Olly’s best work however some tracks seem under-produced – and the main downside for me is his vocal style. I imagine an Alison Kitt album of Olly’s songs WOULD be something(!), but regretfully the best I can do is squeeze this one up to 7/10. Dave Deeks
Never for Nothing 