Those familiar with G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton probably know him for his apologetic works (Orthodoxy or The Everlasting Man) or fiction (Father Brown mysteries or The Man Who Was Thursday). Through the Nicole Ensing Band’s 2014 CD, riddles & creeds, you’ll soon learn about Chesterton the poet. Ensing, the worship ministry coordinator at Guelph’s New Life Christian Reformed Church, and producer Ross McKitrick, have transformed 10 of Chesterton’s poems (two songs on the CD are instrumentals) into outstanding songs. Transforming existing poems into song lyrics isn’t as easy as it sounds (I unsuccessfuly tried to do so with Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Break, Break, Break” after studying it in school). About half the songs were adpated by Ensing and McKitrick, with Ensing soloing on the adaptation on the other half and composing the music for all of the songs but “The Great Minimum,” where she teamed up with McKitrick. “A Child of the Snows,” “The Rolling English Road” and “The Aristocrat” are probably my favourite songs on riddles & creeds, but I don’t think there’s one bad track on the CD. Ensing, sings and plays piano, surrounded herself with a solid band of musicians for this project: Brian Bork (guitar), Sam Fitzpatrick (bass) and Joel Sypkes (drums – and is no longer with the band). The band seems to know when to keep instrumentation to a minimum (“The Great Minimum”) or turned up to 10 (“The Aristocrat”). If I had one quibble with the CD, it’s in the production. There’s often too much “space” between Ensing’s vocals and the rest of the music for my liking, which leads to her vocals getting lost in the mix. riddles & creeds is the perfect introduction to both the Nicole Ensing Band (http://www.nicoleensingband.com/) and the poetry of G.K. Chesterton.