The Echoing Green's Joey Belville has described the objective of his music to be something that makes people want to jump up and down, freak out, and kiss their mom. There's a lot of pain in the world (and certainly this is something that The Echoing Green has explored) but its sometimes nice to just have an album of happy music made with the purpose of being happy and I'd say that's something that is accomplished on this debut album from one of the mainstays of the American synthpop scene. This album was released in 1994 and at times has 90's synthpop written all over it. I really enjoy the early to mid 90's era of this genre because the hype of 80's new wave had died down and we hadn't quite moved in to the resurgence of electronic music of the later part of the 90's and 2000's so there's something very underground and passionate about those still making the music in the face of grunge, industrial, and indie rock. Synth music certainly isn't the only thing that Belville is dedicated to as he is a devout Christian. While his Christianity is always an influence, no one including Belville would really describe The Echoing Green as a Christian band, though this first album may push the limits of that if nothing else for heavily Christian liner notes and uncredited guest vocals by Christian artist Riki Michele on the title track Defend Your Joy. Nothing wrong though with Belville's Christian message (though I am an Atheist myself) but given how he brings it to the foreground in this album I think its work exploring. Back when I was a teenager I grew in Western Massachusetts and my friends and I would go to downtown Northampton a lot. In Northampton there were two types of Christians that were very present. The first were the very vocal, preachy ones that would plead for us to repent and the other ones were these very nice people that on Friday nights would bring hot chocolate, soup, cookies, etc. to a small park at the edge of main street (not just for the homeless but for everyone to enjoy. That second group is how I think of The Echoing Green's Defend Your Joy. I don't think this is their finest work as that would certainly come later with albums like The Winter of Our Discontent, but this is a great start with some really fun tracks including the title track which is a particular favorite of mine. I really love the sample on Enter Love that just pushes the track into overdrive but is also is the type of sample we don't hear often enough (presumably taken from some sort of older instructional film or recording). In addition to the original tracks there's also a pretty cool cover of Underworld's Pray and two remixes, one of the album track Terra Firma and the other of the track Deep Inside Your Heart. The original version of Deep Inside Your Heart would not appear on an official release until six years later on the compilation Oceanaria V1.0. This is a fun very danceable CD that if you're a fan of The Echoing Green will help give you perspective on where the band started out and is worth checking out. Favorite Tracks: Son In My Eyes, Terra Firma (Stand), Enter Love, Defend Your Joy, Brand New Day, and Terra Firma (Stand) (RemYx)
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Album a Day: The Echoing Green - Defend Your Joy
The Echoing Green's Joey Belville has described the objective of his music to be something that makes people want to jump up and down, freak out, and kiss their mom. There's a lot of pain in the world (and certainly this is something that The Echoing Green has explored) but its sometimes nice to just have an album of happy music made with the purpose of being happy and I'd say that's something that is accomplished on this debut album from one of the mainstays of the American synthpop scene. This album was released in 1994 and at times has 90's synthpop written all over it. I really enjoy the early to mid 90's era of this genre because the hype of 80's new wave had died down and we hadn't quite moved in to the resurgence of electronic music of the later part of the 90's and 2000's so there's something very underground and passionate about those still making the music in the face of grunge, industrial, and indie rock. Synth music certainly isn't the only thing that Belville is dedicated to as he is a devout Christian. While his Christianity is always an influence, no one including Belville would really describe The Echoing Green as a Christian band, though this first album may push the limits of that if nothing else for heavily Christian liner notes and uncredited guest vocals by Christian artist Riki Michele on the title track Defend Your Joy. Nothing wrong though with Belville's Christian message (though I am an Atheist myself) but given how he brings it to the foreground in this album I think its work exploring. Back when I was a teenager I grew in Western Massachusetts and my friends and I would go to downtown Northampton a lot. In Northampton there were two types of Christians that were very present. The first were the very vocal, preachy ones that would plead for us to repent and the other ones were these very nice people that on Friday nights would bring hot chocolate, soup, cookies, etc. to a small park at the edge of main street (not just for the homeless but for everyone to enjoy. That second group is how I think of The Echoing Green's Defend Your Joy. I don't think this is their finest work as that would certainly come later with albums like The Winter of Our Discontent, but this is a great start with some really fun tracks including the title track which is a particular favorite of mine. I really love the sample on Enter Love that just pushes the track into overdrive but is also is the type of sample we don't hear often enough (presumably taken from some sort of older instructional film or recording). In addition to the original tracks there's also a pretty cool cover of Underworld's Pray and two remixes, one of the album track Terra Firma and the other of the track Deep Inside Your Heart. The original version of Deep Inside Your Heart would not appear on an official release until six years later on the compilation Oceanaria V1.0. This is a fun very danceable CD that if you're a fan of The Echoing Green will help give you perspective on where the band started out and is worth checking out. Favorite Tracks: Son In My Eyes, Terra Firma (Stand), Enter Love, Defend Your Joy, Brand New Day, and Terra Firma (Stand) (RemYx)
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