Music Review: downhere by downhere

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Lyrics that will inspire with fun music
Cons: A couple tracks that don't quite work
The Bottom Line:
Canadian rock
Lyrics speak powerfully
A band that I love




You'll be "So Blue" if You Miss This Debut from downhere

I love it when I find a new artist I immediately connect with. That was the case with this debut from 2001.

Canadian rock band downhere (yes, they really do spell it with lower case letters), consists of Marc Martel, Jason Germain, Glen Lavender, and Jeremy Thiessen. Unfortunately, they haven't taken the Christian music world by storm. Even on their self-titled debut CD they showed what promise they had. Some of their songs are straight praise while others offer a poetic take on life and make you stop and think.

The CD starts with "Larger than Life." It's a solid soft rock opener that opens quietly with guitar strumming. But that quickly changes as singers Marc Martel and Jason Germain start singing about how God is larger than life. Really, the song is about how God demonstrates His existence through the world around us.

They quickly transition to "Free" with sings about the freedom that comes from living with no earthly attachments since Heaven is our true home.

If you are looking for something a little different in your soft rock, there's "Raincoat." This is definitely one of the metaphor songs. The song compares living without God's protection to walking in a rain storm without a raincoat. For the most part, the song sounds like a fairly standard soft rock song. That is until Marc Martel starts playing the harmonica. You notice it a few times in the beginning, but it really stands out in the last minute or so of the song.

There are also songs about God's work in our lives. "Making Me" is a rather interesting song. The verses offer some complex imagery, while the chorus is a simple prayer "Lord, help me be the one You're making me to be." And "Protest to Praise" talks about the change God brings to our lives so that we can praise Him during trials.

"So Blue" poetically describes the pain and despair of a world lost without God.

My two favorite songs come in the middle. "Great Are You" is a praise song that really could become a church praise chorus. Unfortunately, I think it's just a tad too difficult to sing for that. Anyway, the song compares how great God is to how small we are and concludes "It makes me wonder/Who am I/and Great are You." I hesitate to call this a slow song because they are all rather similarly tempoed, but this is definitely on the slower side of things. What interesting about this song is the instruments. I would have sworn there were bagpipes playing on this song, but I can't find them listed in the notes. Maybe it's the Uilean Pipes that are mentioned.

Next comes "Calmer of the Storm." This ballad is the slowest song on the disc, but it is absolutely powerful and beautiful. It starts with quiet piano and crescendos with strings before the song is over. I am often drawn to songs about trusting God during trials, and that's another draw of this song for me. I especially love the bridge where Marc and Jason start singing over each other, creating a storm effect.

Fans of the group will be delighted to learn this CD contains concert favorite "Rock Stars Need Money." It was supposed to be a silly song presented as a hidden track (after three minutes of silence on track twelve), but you should see the crowds start to cheer when they do this song in concert.

The one flaw with the disc is the style. While all four men are talented musicians, all twelve tracks sound very similar. By the time I am done, they are often blending together. They do offer a little more variety here then on their second release, which was also rockier. This is easily the softest of their three releases to date, which isn't a bad thing but something interesting to note.

For me, strong lyrics overcome many other problems. I still listen to this CD quite regularly and love the songs presented here. They really are one of the hidden gems of Christian music.

CD Length: 53:37

Tracks:

1. Larger than Life

2. Free Me Up

3. Reconcile

4. Raincoat

5. Great Are You

6. Calmer of the Storm

7. Making Me

8. Protest to Praise

9. Breathing In

10. So Blue

11. All the Reasons Why

12. Rock Stars Need Money (Hidden)