Lonaly Girl

In the stillness of a midnight stable, a babe is born … In the stillness of an Oxford chapel on a winter’s afternoon, a girl’s voice sings. The newest star in Oxford’s – and Delphian’s – choral firmament, the girl choristers of Merton College have been singing services under the directorship of Benjamin Nicholas for less than five years: in their debut album recording, supported by the lower voices of the Chapel Choir, they tell once more in music from across the centuries the timeless Christmas story of light, hope and joy for a troubled world.

Boy Meets Girl's George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam wrote Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)," so they understand how important a foundation is to adult contemporary pop – without something to pull the listener along, the songs become just flash and keyboard flutter, platitudes about love and loss. And while Reel Life suffers a little bit from the over-synthesized instrumentation of its era, Boy Meets Girl more often than not pushed the right melodic buttons on this, their biggest album. "Bring Down the Moon" and "Stay Forever" are particularly strong, while the hit single, "Waiting for a Star to Fall," is just a classic.