Josh Garrels- Love & War & The Sea in Between

I must admit that when my brother-in-law first told me that I needed to download a  Christian artist named Josh Garrels from a music marketing website named Noisetrade (http://noisetrade.com/), I was a bit tentative.  My father is a pastor, and in my formative years I was subjected to far too many “uplifting” albums that seemed to be thin and drippy with cliché lyrics and overly produced instrumentation. However when Stephen mentioned that Derek Webb (Christian musician with a sense for metaphor and organic orchestration) was one of the primary creators of Noisetrade, I decided to give it a try. I was shocked to find many budding artist from all kinds of genres. Not since In Rainbows have I downloaded a quality album in which the price was left up to the tipping sensibilities of the listener. I will not ramble on about the proven success of this publicity model, but I can definitively say that I will buy all of Josh Garrel’s previous albums, and eagerly wait for the opportunity to pay full price for his next album.

Last week I was trying to write a short review on The Givers new album In Light. Although that album is quite exciting, it seems that they should be prosecuted for blatantly stealing their sound from the likes of Vampire Weekend and The Dirty Projectors. With no intended disrespect for anyone who has enough skill and inspiration to create an album, I quit the review because I could not tease out very many uniquely identifying elements.

A prodigious new voice with a diversity of styles that aptly create layers of atmosphere was exactly what I was yearning for the first time that I listened to Josh Garrel’s  Love & War & The Sea in Between. Within the first five tracks I began to believe in the manifestation of my yearnings for something new. While some of his lyrics do fringe upon prosaic sentimentality, he sings them with a rooted sincerity that could encourage even the most cynical skeptic to seek ”A Far-Off Hope”. As with all things on this album, there is another dimension, and for every moment of conventional writing there are also songs like “Beyond The Blue” and “Bread and Wine”, which contain the type of well-crafted wisdom that might be found on a Bruce Cockburn album. The depth of this artist and album is also shown in his ability to drop knowledge with the fluid hip-hop style of “The Resistance”.

Josh Garrel’s hopeful writing is enhanced and even surpassed by the gift of his voice, which ranges from woodsy lamenting to angelic intoning. It is hard to compare him to any one particular voice, but he vacillates between strong parallels to Ray Lamontagne, Citizen Cope,  JJ Grey, and many soul-filled R and B singers.  His strong intonation, warbling inflection and ability to hold almost any note can quickly make him a top candidate for comfortable residency in your ear.

After many listens now, the exploratory mixing of this 18 track album only continues to grow more intriguing. Garrels has cross-pollinated a dizzying collection of music genres, sampled beats, instruments, moods, and backing vocals. And the end result is an unpredictable, adventurous hybrid that is versatile enough to engulf an individual or soothe the contrasting request of a group. To sample Josh’s innovative blending of fragile classical instruments with hard driven street beats, listen to “A Far Off Hope” into “The Resistance”. But if you think you know what he sounds like after that, just try another track. There is more evolution between the tracks of this album than most musicians experience in their entire careers. If you are of a similar faith as Garrels, the last three tracks can be an intensely moving spiritual experience. His intentions to create community, inspire consciousness, and encourage the downtrodden are still powerful even if you do not share his faith.

One sign of a great album is that you can listen to with an almost obsessive plentitude, but still find a colorful array of layered affect.  I have listened to this album for nearly a week straight now, but instead of it setting like the sun, it is still awaking me with luminous vibrancies. Josh Garrel’s previous four albums were constituted on more of a lo-fi basis. With this release he embraced a more meticulous production process that might have been a little too plastic for some rustic moments on the album. That is really the only negative observation I have for an otherwise rejuvenating album that may challenge other musicians to be more deftly experimental.  

Review of The Harrow and The Harvest by Gillian Welch

I feel as if I’ve waited a lifetime for a new album from Gillian Welch and even longer for one that moved me like Time (The Revelator). And after eight long years of their need for perfection and periods of frustration, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have at last delivered a fine, ten course regalement for her fans to savor. While many musicians may succumb to the pleadings of their fans, Gillian was commonly unsatisfied with the quality of the tracks they were composing, and she was dedicated to releasing only that which she found to be of sincere quality. It was this professional poise that brought about what Gillian calls the most unified collaboration ever created between she and her guitar whisperer, David Rawlings.  Gillian’s perception of The Harrow and The Harvest rings true as the practically ordained duo makes their interconnectedness evident with seamless transitions between and composite communion together.

In accordance with her previous four releases, Gillian candidly delves into the struggles of the laboring class while also openly sifting through her own sensibilities to enhance her kinship to a broader human condition. At times, Rawlings guitar riffs are almost too pleasantly reminiscent of previously recordings, but he does ripple into novel experiment ion with the nimble cadence of "Down Along the Dixie Line" and the subtle percuss in "Scarlett Town".  There is no real need for too much deviation when his meticulous fingerpicking in alignment with Gillian’s innate sense of vocal effect is what we have come to expect. Throughout this album, Gillian’s frail, haunting voice carries us through themes of crumbling losses, destructive cravings, languid remorse, begotten promises, and arcane mysteries. This album also dons one of her most hopeful tracks to date, which is ironically entitled "Hard Times". Though this may sound overwhelmingly depressing to a listener unfamiliar with her courageous realism, Gillian instinctively purls notes until they wade into the recesses of the soul where they may commiserate and pacify the deepest longings and regrets. 

Mumford and Sons stoke the Asheville Civic Center

Normally I find the square cavernous likes of the Asheville Civic Center to be an underwhelming drag. The conservative concrete walls have never accurately represented Asheville’s largest venue. But on Tuesday, June 7^th that cold hypnotic square found crackling coals inside. It was Mumford and Son’s biggest headline show to date and I was blessed to be amongst the sold- out crowd. The show started a bit slowly with the title track to their album, Sigh No More, but  quickly found pure foot stomping adrenaline as Roll Away Your Stone and Winter Winds brought the entire crowd to their feet. This British foursome turned a normally mediocre, drone ACC crowd into a raging fir e by consistently switching instruments and sincerely embracing the raw energy of music.

Sporting vest, tattered jeans and even a mohawk style mullet, the eclectic crew had a wide range of styles for an equally diverse crowd. Throughout the night the core four (Mumford, Lovett, Marshall, and Dwane) were joined by an assortment of guest including members from the opening band and a trio of horn players. Because their first and only full length release includes only one song with prominent horns, it seemed that the deep-lunged trio would only be out for a song or two. However much to the fans pleasant surprise, Mumford and Sons courageously tried out many new numbers from an album that should be finished shortly after their present tour. Many of the fresh tracks provided the horns section with plenty of opportunity to create an evolving emotional range. At one point the formulaically happy band even ventured into some slightly intriguing dark space. However it did not take them very long to veer back into their contagiously charismatic style. And in the end, the respectful newcomers paid tribute to their mentoring friends, The Avett Brothers, by playing Go to Sleep.

As the last notes were plucked, the entire civic center exhaled.  Then Mumford and Sons bowed and waved under a single strand of bulbs that glowed like poarch lights in the deep south. The line of lights looked so casually strewn that one might guess that the quartet had hung them on their own, and judging from all the other comfortable glowing warmth they brought with them tonight, I would not would not be surprised at all.