The music world is a strange place.  With little or no warning, artists can be plucked from obscurity to become popular.  Two years ago, Sarah Masen was a college student who wrote songs which she played  at her church or in coffeehouses.  Now she is a singer/songwriter with one indie album, a major label release that got her Dove Award nominations and a number one radio single, and now a new album coming out. Fans need not worry about a "sophomore slump." Carry Us Through is a fine album, as good or better than her label debut.  The chief difference--some would say the chief improvement--is in the production. Sarah's indie album (which I have not heard) was lauded for its simple, direct production.  Her Re:Think Records debut was produced by Charlie Peacock with multiple electric guitars and keyboards and sounded like a studio album. While I disliked the production less than many of my friends did, I found that for expressiveness and honesty, Sarah Masen live performances blew the studio album away, particularly when it was just her and a guitar on stage. 

Charlie Peacock's production decisions on her second album included less electronic guitar and keyboard work, less backing vocal work, and minimal string accompaniment.  Acoustic instruments, like guitar, mandolin, and banjo, are more in the forefront than on the first album.  As a result, the new album does a much better job of capturing the qualities that make Sarah Masen so much fun in concert.  

Sarah stretches herself musically on this album, drawing on a more diverse set of musical styles in her songs. The title cut features guitar and harmonica laying down a bluesy groove over top of a rhythmic snare drum while gospel-style background vocals add some soul. "Wrap My Arms Around Your Name"  mixes mandolin and acoustic piano over some strings to create  an anthemic feel underneath Sarah's lilting vocal.  Coupled with lyrics that mention God more directly than some of her other songs, this song will probably get some serious airplay on Christian radio. Sarah's singing has changed very little (if at all).  Not having had classical voice training, she sings more like a Julie Miller or a Victoria Williams than a Fleming McWilliams or a Sandi Patty.  Sometimes breathy, sometimes lilting as she alternates between falsetto and her natural alto, her voice lacks the power and smoothness of a Sarah Jahn.  

Her vocal style sometimes makes her lyrics hard to catch, which is something of a shame. As was the case with her first album, Sarah's lyrics make it clear that she is not a typical twenty-something singer/songwriter in her outlook. She mixes appreciation for life's richness with an awareness of its shallowness.  If that sounds like a paradox, it also sounds like real life. More than that, she seeks to get beyond that shallowness, "wanting so much more" as she sings in "Beautiful Dream Visions." 

The lyrics of the opening song, "Seasons Always Change," express this longing well. Sarah's lyrics go beyond commonplace observations about the inevitability of change ("Seasons always change/ Everybody knows that/ Everybody says that.") to focus on the challenges and growth it brings to our lives:  

    The sun shines through the rain.  
    And the wind makes us afraid (don't give in)  
    Because we learn to love that way.

    Save communion for the holidays.  
    Keep perception at a safe arm's length.  
    Does 'Hallelujah' wear the same old face?  
    I'm okay, yeah okay, fine okay.  
    What I really want is  
    To Wrap My Arms Around Your Name...

By Chris Parks 

For the follow-up to her self-titled major-label debut, Sarah Masen could have played it safe and followed the same acoustic-pop formula that had already worked so well for her.  After all, Sarah Masen was a critical and commercial success in the Christian marketplace, and even made some inroads into the mainstream, with Ms. Masen being featured in a tour of Borders bookstores and with songs from the album being used in TV shows like Party of Five and Dawson's Creek. 
 
Instead, Masen has veered away from the hook-laden songs of her debut to produce an album that's perhaps a bit less radio-friendly, but one nonetheless rewarding to the careful listener.  While the songs on Carry Us Through remain squarely in the mid-tempo pop arena, the musical palette is expanded to include touches of sitar, cello, flute, harmonica, banjo, and trumpet.  Influences ranging from blues and gospel ("Carry Us Through") to modern rock ("Tears Like Flowers") are all evident on the album in various combinations, but none dominate the overall sound. 

Lyrically, the album features more of the literate, poetic writing that is a Masen trademark.  In "Fragrance of Pink," she writes "I'm crashed by the nature of freedom/I'm too cracked to thrice mend/ And I'm sweating my need for redemption/While guilt beads on my skin." For those unfamiliar with her previous work, Ms. Masen's voice falls somewhere near the smoothness of Lisa Loeb and Shawn Colvin, with a bit of the quirkiness of Victoria Williams, and she sometimes alternates between her normal range and a playful falsetto.  Masen's earnest vocals,  from the worshipful "Wrap My Arms Around Your Name" to the playful and soulful "Carry Us Through," breathe life and genuine emotion into her lyrics. 
 
If there's a downside to the album, it's a lack of variation in the tempo of the songs and the aforementioned lack of "hooks." While this creates a project with a very cohesive, consistent sound that lends itself to straight-through listening, it also means that there aren't really any tracks that jump up and demand the listener's attention.  But still, when the songs are this good, that's a minor criticism.  Carry Us Through definitely shows growth and change in Ms. Masen's music, and that's to be applauded.  Approach this disc without any preconceived notions, and you'll be rewarded with some of the most intelligent, artistic pop that the CCM world has to offer.  

By Jerry B. Ray Jr.  

The alterna-pop sounds of Sarah Masen's self titled release on Charlie Peacock's Re:Think label won Sarah a number of fans, and set up a great deal of demand for her previous indie release. This album looks set to build on that popularity--especially here in Europe where she plans to follow up appearances last summer with a longer tour this year. 

My one problem with the Sarah Masen album was that it often felt over-produced, and I was glad that this album has taken a more rootsy direction. The strong production and session musicians are still here, but there is a more organic feel to a number of the songs. Victoria Williams has been a strong influence on Sarah (and she covered one of Vic's songs last time), but these songs are very much Sarah's. 

Lyrically this album really shines, with a wonderfully poetic look at many sides of life: 

Don't know much about Love 
Think it starts with belief 
I've seen it there for healing 
Can feel it beneath my feet 
Don't know much about Love 
Don't think it can replace belief 
I can feel it when I'm kneeling 
Coming up from underneath 
Wondering at the mystery 
Hoping with a German grace 
Because there's my cousin Jenni's face 
She wants to do it right 
(from "jenni's face")

By James Stewart