Is there a formula for making great children’s songs? It’s got to be catchy for starters, right? Perhaps throw in some repetitive lyrics – maybe some nonsensical ones too. Whatever the right ingredients may be, Laura Viers seems to have discovered them, blended them, spread them on a baking tray, applied a cookie-cutter and, after cooking for just over half an hour, produced 13 delicious tracks.

There’s always a risk when an established artist steps away from the world of music for adults and into the playground of music for children. But Laura Viers has gambled and won, producing an album of credible songs that appeal to both children and adults without patronising either age group.

There’s a good mix of sing-a-long staples, bedtime snoozers and dancey-time ditties here, with Viers keeping the music mainly of a folk persuasion, only occasionally dipping into a more alternative realm. Opening track Little Lap Dog Lullabye has a chorus that sticks in the mind (“Come up horsey hey hey/Come up horsey hey hey”), while Jack Can I Ride tips a hat to traditional American children’s folk – both in its musicality (the piano and strings complimenting each other), and its lyrical content (reminiscent of Lead Belly’s simplicity).

Title track Tumble Bee starts off like the kind of work we’re used to Viers producing, before freeing up and adding a more wholesome sound. Jump Down Spin Around, on the other hand, is pure participatory music, simple in its delivery but infectious in its ability to draw people into the song – it cries out for listeners to both jump down and spin around.

Viers has grasped the simple notion that music for children shouldn’t be condescending. She has also bypassed novelty value and cheap gimmicks to produce an album of real sentiment, which is entertaining enough to be enjoyed by both children and adults: not necessarily in the same room or at the same time though.

-Dave Standen-