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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Heather Miller entered the Christian music scene in the fall of 1998 with her debut album, Once Upon a Time. The release, which consisted mostly of radio-friendly light pop music, sold respectably and generated the hit single "Do You Know Now." For the most part, the new release, Send Me an Angel, trades in the bubblegum pop of Once Upon a Time for a folkier, more organic setting. Miller's voice, which falls somewhere between the atmospheric consistency of Jewel and Shawn Colvin and the rootsy, folk-rock feel of Jennifer Knapp, fits quite well within the new musical setting, particularly against the gritty, minimalistic folk-rock of songs like "Angel" or the acoustic texture of the lovely "All My Needs." And the alluring combination of folky, acoustic guitar and swirling orchestral accompaniments makes the beautiful, achingly melancholy "In Your Arms" the ideal vehicle for Miller's accurate and piercing vocal talent. But as competent as she may on songs like these, Miller's excursions outside the folk-rock domain are met with mixed results. While her voice is unquestionably more than adequate for the adult contemporary pop of "We Will See Him," her copious vocal talent is lamentably buried beneath the song's heavily layered backing vocal treatments and overly glossy, wall-of-sound production. "Thinking of You" pits Miller awkwardly against a barricade of beatbox type electronic percussion in an unwieldy, and mostly formulaic, slice of modern day teen dance-pop. And, although it is virtually inevitable that any remake of Russ Taff's classic "The Way Home" will pale when compared to the original, Miller's version is nonetheless a particularly listless, and decidedly nondescript, adaptation of the 1989 landmark. To her credit, where she helped pen only one song on her first release, Miller has stepped up her writing duties significantly for Send Me an Angel, writing or co-writing all but one of the songs on the new release. Miller's writing style is coherent and sincere, and her stark lyrical approach is particularly well-suited for straight-ahead pop-rock of numbers like "Angel" (Oh, it's the wind that moves through the trees/ Oh, it's the peace I feel on my knees/ Oh, it's the hand that reaches me), where her keen sense of word timing and parallelism perfectly underscores the song's already infectious rhythm. But the lion's share of the wording on the sophomore effort unfortunately winds up being a mere reiteration of what has already been said by any number of other artists. The poignant premise of "Life to Me," (Spent all my life/ Trying to find the truth/ You came here from Heaven/ To set me free), for instance, is regrettably overwhelmed by its amateurish wording, while the featureless writing of "Tell Me Why" (I know there's safety in Your hands/ There's no peace without You) only serves to highlight the song's plodding tempo and unengaging melody. Still, all of this is not to say that _Send Me an Angel_ is a substandard release. Indeed, the album is a mostly pleasant work with agreeable songs, a goodly supply catchy pop hooks and an undeniably sincere sentiment. But the record's weak lyrics, more often than not, provide a poor backdrop for what would have been an otherwise stellar vocal performance. And the album's overly imitative song structures offer Miller mournfully little room to distinguish herself amidst what is by now a veritable host of sound alike artists. Bert Gangl 06/14/2000
I don't know what to think of Heather Miller's debut release Send Me an Angel. On the one hand her voice is pleasing and she sings with plenty of passion. On the other hand here's a fair bit of "next big thing" pretension around her. She’s pictured liberally throughout the booklet with one guitar or another, but there's no evidence she even plays in the disc credits. She writes a lot of her own material, but she does so with big name song writers like producers Michael Tait (dcTalk) and former Grammatrain lead singer Pete Stewart, and song doctor John Mandeville. She's a little bit Dolly Parton and a whole lot Crystal Lewis, ("I'm a little bit country. I'm a little bit rock and roll." Whoa. Bad flashback there for a minute.) with just a dab of Russ Taff thrown in for good measure. She's a potent mix of blue-eyed soul, acoustic driven pop, R&B, and rock and roll but from time to time it all sounds more like a contrived mix. And that's what leaves me a little unsettled about the disc. It is imminently satisfying aurally and lyrically so I'm going to have to work with what I hear, rather than what I feel. It's time to pull out the benefit of the doubt. I think Miller is a rising talent, but it's likely she's being "handled" a little too much, know what I mean? The three-song start off to this disc, "Angel," "We Will See Him," and "Life To Me," is as good a beginning one could ask for. In the opening rocker, Miller sings about feeling surrounded by God's care in the provision of angels at just the times in her life when she needs them. Oh, it's the tide that soothes my soulNext comes the radio hit, "We Will See Him," which is praise and worship music with a killer beat and a seriously melodic hook. This song is the aural equivalent of oatmeal it tastes good and sticks with you. But, then comes the highlight of the disc, "Life To Me," the first ballad. This song shines and shimmers with emotion. Written with Mandeville, "Life..." tells the story of a seeker who's finally found what she's been looking for and the feeling of assurance that provides Spent all my life trying to find the truth that's in Your eyesMiller sings with such sincerity, that it's easy to be drawn into the songs she's singing, the stories she's telling, the testimony she's giving. With more than adequate help from Tait and Stewart (background vocals and instrumental support throughout in addition to producing chores), Miller makes the best use of her new friends. Particularly on the almost note-for-note remake of Danny Tate and Danny Wilde's "Winds of Change" from Russ Taff's 1989 album The Way Home and, incidentally, his 1995 country disc, Winds of Change. Miller takes what is already a great song, and with a little, no, make that a lot of help from her friends almost makes it her own declaration. While she's a spot-on match for the song vocally (as are Tait and Stewart in "featured" vocal appearances), Miller seems just a tad young to be singing something so blatantly mature. The hands of time go round and round.That's all true, and Russ Taff certainly knew that when he recorded it in 1989, but Miller's publicity materials indicate she's two years out of college and I'm guessing that puts her right around 24, maybe. I remember thinking I had all that experience when I was her age too but I was wrong. The only hands of time that I'd seen go round and round were the ones on my Timex and I suspect the same of Miller. It's one of those "contrived" moments, but she sure sounds great. Miller's disc shows a lot of promise. I do find myself listening to it frequently. But, I also find myself wondering what the next one will be like. Michael Ehret 06/17/2000
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