Anna Wolfe has a charming voice, and she uses it as the lead instrument on 'Love,' a collection of lilting mellow piano songs on the theme of, well, love, primarily. Some of the melodies - in particular the title track - are touching and minor-key sad, but Anna's message throughout remains positive. 'Little Mustard Seed' and 'Try and Try Again' are both dedicated to Eva Ferrell, a four-year-old with cerebral palsy, and are songs of hope and encouragement.
'On Your Side of the World' laments the distance of a friend or lover, but Anna sends comfort and soothingly assures 'there's peace in the world tonight.'
The only trouble is that there's never peace in the world, and I find it rather difficult to swallow the repeated suggestions that we're all protected by angels and surrounded by love at all times. Life's tough, and sometimes there's nothing and no-one.
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I do have to admire Anna's optimism, though, just as I have to admire her voice, which is never less than delightful. I also have to admire 'Riverboat Queen,' the album's centrepiece and standout track, built over a rolling piano and haunting vocal performance.
While 'Love' is, in many respects a rather standard folk album in much of its style and content (the recurring images of nature and water and tales of sailors, etc., are pretty stock to say the least), what sets it apart from so many others is the delivery, which lifts it to another level entirely.
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