JIMETTA ROSE Vinyl & CDs

Review: While Jimetta Rose composed the songs on How Good It Is, a collaboration with Los Angeles community gospel choir The Voices of Creation, during a period of personal hardship, even the album's most bittersweet moments feel hopeful and positive. As a result, the set's six tracks feel surprisingly joyous, with inspiring choral, solo and spoken word vocals rising above backing tracks that variously offer nods towards the Staple Singers, Funkadelic and Sly Stone. It's a genuinely timeless, life-affirming collection, with highlights including blindingly good opener 'Let The Sunshine In', the atmospheric, slow-motion shuffle of 'Operation Feed Yourself', the squelchy and suspenseful brilliance of 'Answer The Call' and the sweet release of original gospel compilation 'Ain't Life Grand'.