Reviewed by George Luke

A lot has been said and written about the state of worship music today (mostly about how bad it is), but rarely do the radical church complainers actually get off their butts and do something concrete to fix what they claim is wrong. For that reason alone, the guys at Bifrost Arts (a US-based sacred music non-profit organisation) deserve kudos for putting this album together. It's a simple idea; look through 400 years worth of old hymns and liturgical music, select a handful of forgotten gems and get a range of artists to give their interpretations of them. The artists include Dave Bazan from Pedro The Lion, Damien Jurado, Rosie Thomas, Denison Witmer, The Welcome Wagon (with Sufjan Stevens in tow) and Leigh Nash of Sixpence. The result is a fine collection of haunting songs somewhere between hymnody and Americana. Sadly, neither the album's Myspace page nor the label's website (nor the copy of the CD that CR loaned me in order to write this review) give any details as to who is actually singing what. I only know that the closing track, "He Never Said A Mumblin' Word" is by the Welcome Wagon because I saw/heard them sing it at Greenbelt.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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