Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

"Kiss Me" continues to play, like a small miracle, in grocery stores and on hit radio across the nation. It's a testament to how poetry can sometimes slip past the sentiment-merchants and land in the Top 40 among clichés and the empty hooks.

I'm sure Sixpence None the Richer had no idea how far that little song would go. It must have been exciting for them, but also a bit amusing, because "Kiss Me" is the simplest, most sentimental song on their self-titled 1997 release. Anyone who got excited about it and decided to check out the rest of the catalogue was in for quite a jolt. 

Matt Slocum writes heavy lyrics, verses full of doubt, questioning, struggle, faith and hope. Few songwriters use pop and rock as a vehicle for prayer the way he does; he stands under the banner of contemporary psalmists alongside Bono, Bruce Cockburn, Julie Miller, and Linford Detweiler, to name a few. His somber psalms sting because they are delivered by the light, airy voice of Leigh Nash. Nash sounds like the kind of singer whose agents would advise her to spend her short career on frivolous pop ditties; instead, she brings qualities of vulnerability and humility to her expressions of grandiose spiritual themes. To borrow a phrase: It's a voice "like a bloom that pushes up through stony ground." 

The band knows a lot about struggle and doubt. It's been a period of delays, label troubles, band member rotations, and personal relationship breakdowns ... the same kind of crucible that delayed their last record. So it's no surprise that their new album is titled Divine Discontent. It's a perfect title, highlighting the Almighty's hand at work in even the most unsettling times. These songs shine like gems made under extreme pressure.

In fact, they are almost too shiny. But now I'm talking about production, not songwriting. You can tell these songs have been polished to within an inch of their lives, making this album sound more artificial than their previous release. The instrumentation is incredibly tight, the production densely layered and lush. The band has never sounded tighter, more professional, or more confident. That impresses me, but at the same time I find myself wishing for some rough edges or some improvisation. Last time, they sounded like a band on a stage playing as if their lives depended on it. Here, the luxuriant beds of strings and the overlaid guitars speak of long studio hours, making most songs feel like soundboard events. Outside of the orchestral backup, there's very little experimentation, very few new aural ideas here.

Fortunately, the lyrics and melodies are compelling and bold 

With "Breathe Your Name" they burst out of the gate with probably the catchiest pop song since... well..."Kiss Me." (Grocery store radio, here it comes.) But it's no trifle. Athough the chorus is laced with references to losing control and heavy breathing - staple terms for songs of romantic obsession - a closer read reveals that this is a prayer for God's guidance in times of confusion. It's so "up" sounding that the raw need at the center sneaks up on you.

Another track that should find a long lifespan on the radio is their clever cover of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over". Sixpence has a knack for choosing perfect cover songs. They actually improved the La's "There She Goes" and showed excellent discernment in covering Sam Phillips' "I Need Love." But I wish they had done something new with this great song instead of making it just a pop re-creation of the original hit. Even the guitar solo hits all the same notes. Sure it sounds great, but a little more interpretation would have been interesting.

Some of the songs are too good, too ambitious, for radio. Digging in the dirt of a recent breakup, Slocum's prayer "Still Burning" has the sting of truth: "I can't believe you want me to begin again..." But his affirmation of trust in the midst of question and turmoil is bold: "Your heart is a hand that takes hold of me." Heralding God's ever presence in trouble, he takes up a step to a re-affirmation of his role in the Grand Scheme: 

This is my call
I belong to you...
This is my call 
to sing the melodies of you
This is my call
I can do nothing else.

It's a simple mission statement, but the music rises on a stirring string motif. It's as if Leigh's run out of words to sing, but the spirit is still willing its prayer in tones too deep for words.

Having led us onto solid ground, the band is primed to do some heavy work. And that's exactly what they do, leading us from a personal space to the political stage for the heaviest rock number of the Sixpence catalogue. Nash's lyrics for "Paralyzed" expose an angst rarely admitted by a songwriter: The fear that his God-given craft is useless in view of the larger world crises. At the beginning, the singer is watching the news, and something he sees there shakes him. It's hard not to play a mental slideshow of recent events as the music rises to "Bullet the Blue Sky" roar.

I change the channel, mute the sound
Take a walk to clear my head
I go to do an interview
About a song, (three minutes long!)

Feels like I'm fiddling while Rome is burning down
Should I lay my fiddle down and take a rifle from the ground?

The lyrics circle back to the personal, as "Eyes Wide Open" details the frenzied, fast lifestyle of a girl struggling to keep her balance in the city. The song has a full, forceful rock sound reminiscent of the recent Over the Rhine anthems like "Goodbye." It is here that I feel the enormity of the sound grows somewhat wearying. Only at the very end, in the poetic and sentimental "A Million Parachutes" are we allowed a quieter, more intimate moment with Leigh and Company. 

Nevertheless, the album's peak is yet to come. The thrilling euphoria of "Dizzy" may be a peak for Sixpence None the Richer. The title certainly fits, as they whip up a tornado of sound to Leigh's beautifully broken confessions of doubt and struggle. She compares herself to Thomas touching Jesus' wounds, struggling for evidence enough to bolster her faith, struggling to bear the burden of guilt like the Apostle Peter with "crowing burning my ears." But then she prays to be what she wishes to be:

I want to be like David
Throw his clothes to the wind and dance a jig

I'll give you myself
It's all that I have
Broken and frail
I'm clay in your hands
And I'm spinning unconcealed
Dizzy on this wheel
For you my Love.

Divine Discontent is an album Sixpence can be proud of. And I'm sure they hope, right along with their fans, that the journey to the next release will not be such a long, difficult road. I also hope these restless spirits journey into some new stylistic territories soon, so they do not become redundant. Maybe it's just a matter of finding the right producer. Does somebody have a phone number for T-Bone Burnett?

Jeffrey Overstreet  12/20/2002