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.
No comments:
Post a Comment