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.
"Wrap My Arms Around Your Name" is both an introspective look at life's routines and a plea for a deepened understanding and awareness of and communion with God that goes beyond the usual and the familiar:
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...
Sarah Masen continues to grow and develop as an artist. Her fans will find this album well worth purchasing. People who haven't heard her work should give this album some consideration among the many significant album releases of this spring.
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Lighthouse Unsorted 1998Reviewed by Melissa KonieczkoSarah Masen is one of a select number of artists who have been able to gain support in the Christian AC market as well as the alternative/underground subculture. The reason for this is her ability to create heartfelt, emotional, and honest songs that are valuable in both their musical and lyrical qualities. Carry Us Through is an album that has Masen's heart written all over it. Though the songs…The Phantom Tollbooth 1998Reviewed by Jerry B. Ray Jr.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 Phantom Tollbooth 1998Reviewed by James StewartThe 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…Similar sounding releases
1998Margaret BeckerFalling Forward
2002Shana Morrison7 Wishes
1999Kendall PayneJordan's Sister
2000Brenda WeilerFly Me Back
2004Sara GrovesThe Other Side of Something
2003Jill PhillipsWriting on the Wall
