Featured Artists: Sixpence None The
Richer
Your first clue might be the way the songs
bleed into one another. Leigh's naïve and disarming voice floats and hovers over
Matt's articulate, emotive guitar and string arrangements, ascending and descending
like an uncertain angel on Jacob's ladder. The various layers and textures of the
music intertwine, hold together for a moment, spin, and rejoin. Suddenly, you realize that you're already listening to the third song on the album, unaware
that the first two had ever ended. It's okay. Take a deep breath. Relax. That's
how it's meant to be.
"This project is
like a part of our lives pulled up, roots and all", says Matt Slocum, the band leader
and principal songwriter for the Dove Award-winning group Sixpence None The Richer.
"It's not a scattered collection of unrelated songs. It's all one story, a
whole story, a journey, a struggle. We wanted to give listeners some of that by
overlapping the first few songs."
Sixpence None The Richer, the self-titled, flagship release for Steve Taylor's new Squint
Entertainment label, follows up the rave success of Sixpence's "This
Beautiful Mess" (albeit a year and a half later than expected)
After recording two critically acclaimed full-length albums
and an EP for an independent (and now defunct) label, Sixpence None The Richer found
themselves cast into an unexpected and frustrating artistic limbo. What should have been a
high point for the Austin, Texas transplants, instead became a two and a half-year
struggle to regain control of their creative future.
When their label collapsed financially, an
outside company quickly claimed ownership of the band's
contract, a move that prevented them from recording. Meanwhile, This Beautiful Mess was making its own
inroads, increasing the band's fan base and racking up a list
of accolades that included a Dove Award for "Best Modern Rock
Album," a Dove Nomination for "Best Modern Rock
Song," and numerous #1 radio hits in the rock and modern rock
formats.
Through heavy
touring, despite label confusion, Sixpence continued to boost their
sales figures and to cement their reputation as a compelling live
act, winning the artistic praise and respect of such gospel music
luminaries as Amy
Grant,dc
Talk, Michael W.
Smith andJars
of Clay. But in the end, such successes were bittersweet,
overshadowed as they were by an ongoing sense of paralysis. "When I think about those months of struggle," says
Leigh Nash, lead singer and one of the band's founding
members, "I just remember it as one long season of waiting.
Everything seemed so up in the air. Our only choices, really, were
to fall into despair over it or give it all to God and just learn to
wait. I think we started out doing the first, but somewhere along
the way learned to do the second."
The progression of songs on this new Sixpence None The Richer
project unfold in a linear fashion, revealing in a literate manner
the journey from despair and frustration to patience, renewed
commitment and rebirth. Much like the Psalms of David, the songs
express human experience and emotion without becoming mired in the
specifics of one person's particular problems. To be sure,
these songs were birthed out of the trials Matt, Leigh and drummer
Dale Baker endured firsthand, but the lyrics could as easily be
about the experiences of any who seek to wrestle through the night
of their fear and despair; as Jacob did with the angel; finally prevailing to receive a blessing.
Finding a creative ally in producer Steve Taylor, Sixpence None the Richer entered the
studio, seeking to capture on tape the soul of their struggle and subsequent deliverance.
"While we were recording," Matt relates, "we started every day by reading a
Psalm aloud. What David expressed in that book just seemed to lock in so well to where we
were. The Psalms aren't antiseptic. They dive down to the depths.But they
don't wallow in their despair. They find a way back to the heights, rejoicing in
God's deliverance and faithfulness. Our dream had been to be musicians and make
records. We started out very idealistic. When we saw how the real world acts, and our
dream was threatened, it was shocking to us. Our ideals shattered. It was a long road, a
long climb back, and a heavy maturing process for all of us that ultimately drove us to
our knees and to God and made our faith even stronger."
One result of the painful process was a paring down of the band's
roster. Faced with the possibility of never recording again, Sixpence's membership
was reduced to its original three members. While they watched their downsizing with
regret, the end result was a broadened musical palette for the core members of the group.
No longer married to guitar, bass and drum arrangements, Sixpence None the Richer began to
experiment with more accordion, pedal steel guitar, cello and other strings.
