REVIEW Having just completed my “maiden listen”* of Laurel’s debut album, I’m savoring my free CD deal like Ethiopian coffee with lemon bouquet. I would characterize Start Small, Hope Big as a poppy Contemporary Christian album with undertones of Praise & Worship, Gospel, and a few rock touches—an appreciably eclectic undertaking for a first endeavor. The sound is keyboard-based and smoothly produced. A look at the chorus of the title song- Start small, hope big Trusting God to come through again In spite of the odds and probability God worked miraculously Because they dared to believe Start small…and hope big -gives one a sense of the album’s flavor. Themes include trust, pain, faith, love, wrapped around some Bible-inspired songs, most notably a couple of Psalm-based tracks. The album’s best shot at the coveted “Bittersweet” adjective appears in “The Shape of You”: “Is this what it feels like to be broken?/Is this what it takes to be used?/Is this what it feels like to be molded/Into the shape of You?” While I’m bound by honesty to admit that CC isn’t my favorite musical genre, Laurel gets props for a solid, God-centered first effort. What I appreciate most about my free CD deal is not, ironically, its gratis stature. Rather, Laurel is directing a portion of all CD proceeds to Home of Hope, a children’s [home] in Bangladesh. It’s no mark on Laurel’s musical abilities to say that the heart intent here ought to get top billing. Nice work. -- AJ Vanderhorst, Kansas City area writer (originally posted on his blog, "Bittersweet Life") :: REVIEW I am by no means a Christian. In fact my music tastes include bands such as Tool and Marilyn Manson. So to say that I liked the Laurel Fisher c.d. “Start Small, Hope Big” would be questionable. From a religious point of view it was not what I would agree with, but from a musician’s point of view it was not bad at all. If I had to describe what I had heard on this album I would say Brittney Spears meets Christianity. It was a very bubble gum pop kind of sound. This is not really my kind of music, but that is not to say it was bad music. A couple of the songs such as LSD (Love Sick Dog), and Overcomer (which according to my computer isn’t a word at all), just made me laugh, not a bad laugh, but a laugh like you are kind of trying to jig with the music and hope no one is watching. For the most part the album was telling me that the writer was lonely and needed God to fill the void in her life because no one else could. I am probably wrong there, but I am just giving an opinion. I can’t say all bad news of the album because the very last song, “Start Small, Hope Big” (the title song of the album), was very touching and I really enjoyed listening to it. So all in all my review is that while I am a rocker and this is extremely not my style, and I probably wouldn’t buy the c.d. on my own, if it was playing on the radio I would not change the station. I really doubt that I would hear this on my radio station though. P.S. My girlfriend really enjoyed it and she stole the c.d. from me. -- Bob E. Lynch, writer, teacher, and doctoral student in the field of education ::