Jeremy Casella's album "Recovery"
Here's some info about an album I discovered and bought recently thanks to christianitytoday.com (it made #4 in their top 10 albums of the year list):
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/reviews/2007/rcvry.html (their original 5-star review)
Jeremy Casella - "Recovery" (available on iTunes) = currently unsigned American artist after his label shelved his previous album (with lots of big name guest artists) never to release it. If it's half as good as this one it would certainly be worth getting and be much better than much of the relatively uninspired Christian MOR that trots out in the US on a daily basis.
"Recovery, a richly textured stunner that combines acoustic guitar, atmospheric keyboards, and drum programming with warm strings and horns. To say there's nothing quite like Casella in the Christian music landscape is an understatement, and that's part of why we find the album so captivating. Naturally, the other component is the poetic writing, which explores the tension between despair ("Distress Signal," "Hypocrisy #785") and hope ("Daylight," "Recovery") while wrestling with the role of faith in this everyday tug-of-war; not too unlike the Psalms, which "The Curse" clearly takes inspiration from. It's a hauntingly beautiful album to say the least—one that's sure to attract the attention of more progressive record labels mindful of the deeper artistic wells to be found in contemporary Christian music." - http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/reviews/2007/2007bestof.html
The last track, "Hand Of God", one of the most beautiful things I've heard in a long while (with a gorgeous instrumental outro). As a whole the album is pretty upbeat with a folk/orchestral/electronica sound that's really pleasing (a bit like David Gray on a good day). Great songs with beautiful, heartfelt lyrics. Can't stop playing the whole album at the mo.
See this "Making Of.." video on his web site that gives you clips of much of the album's songs with interviews (Casella himself - nice bloke, the album's producer, etc...).
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/reviews/2007/rcvry.html (their original 5-star review)
Jeremy Casella - "Recovery" (available on iTunes) = currently unsigned American artist after his label shelved his previous album (with lots of big name guest artists) never to release it. If it's half as good as this one it would certainly be worth getting and be much better than much of the relatively uninspired Christian MOR that trots out in the US on a daily basis.
"Recovery, a richly textured stunner that combines acoustic guitar, atmospheric keyboards, and drum programming with warm strings and horns. To say there's nothing quite like Casella in the Christian music landscape is an understatement, and that's part of why we find the album so captivating. Naturally, the other component is the poetic writing, which explores the tension between despair ("Distress Signal," "Hypocrisy #785") and hope ("Daylight," "Recovery") while wrestling with the role of faith in this everyday tug-of-war; not too unlike the Psalms, which "The Curse" clearly takes inspiration from. It's a hauntingly beautiful album to say the least—one that's sure to attract the attention of more progressive record labels mindful of the deeper artistic wells to be found in contemporary Christian music." - http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/reviews/2007/2007bestof.html
The last track, "Hand Of God", one of the most beautiful things I've heard in a long while (with a gorgeous instrumental outro). As a whole the album is pretty upbeat with a folk/orchestral/electronica sound that's really pleasing (a bit like David Gray on a good day). Great songs with beautiful, heartfelt lyrics. Can't stop playing the whole album at the mo.
See this "Making Of.." video on his web site that gives you clips of much of the album's songs with interviews (Casella himself - nice bloke, the album's producer, etc...).
Comments
God bless.
James