Heart
Posted October 14, 2013
By justDanYell,
Multiple-award winning Canadian Band The City Harmonic recently released their highly anticipated sophomore albumHeart. After the release of their debut album I have a Dream (Feels Like Home), The City Harmonic became the subject of Christian forums, garnering numerous nominations including their recent four GMA Canada Covenant Awards(happening Nov. 6 at Burlington, Ontario) as the Artist and Group of the Year, Praise and Worship Song of the Year and Music Video of the Year for their epic song Holy (Wedding Day). Reflecting life lived by the band members since their full-length debut, the new album shifts from the dream of what could and should be to the complexities of how to follow the true humanity of Christ’s example in the world.
HEART starts with an elegant piano orchestration Here & There. You can feel a heavy and very thick emotion, then in a sudden drop Elias Dummer entered in a soft voice. Its poetically-written lyrics will amuse you with its depth: “The heart is like Pandora’s box with just a crack it’s opened up to beat anew when all is lost to run, crawl, come home,” it describes a new life in Christ—who brought us into light, having a heart that is broken & contrite in repentance.There’s a grace for today so Praise the Lord; a song that reminds us to praise the Lord, rain or shine, whether you’re in darkness or light, in good times & bad—in every circumstances, because Jesus Christ is Lord. Its excellent packaging has been their signature along with their radio single City on a Hill; a clear exhortation of the Beatitudes/ Sermon on the Mount found in the book of Matthew chapter five. The piano-oriented Strong is birthed in the middle of Eric Fussilier’s battle with cancer he co-penned this anthem with Elias. The theme of God’s light shining in the darkness is one of the noticeable attributes of the songs throughout the album.
We all live in a fallen world; full of sorrow, pain and desperation, and no one is exempted to this. We can feel it all and sometimes we’re being discouraged and in doubt of God’s power. But Jesus said in John 16:33:”Take heart, for I have overcome the world!” it is the reminder of the song Take Heart, to re-affirm our trust and faith in Him. With the same message comes the upbeat Alive, Alive; an assurance in Him that though we walk through the valley (Psalm 23), He’ll never leave us for He’s alive that’s why we’re alive. Acoustic-based Love, Heal Me is a humble prayer for healing, honest and straight from the heart of the bassist Eric. Its instrumentation is somehow parallel to NeedToBreathe’s Lay ‘Em Down. The 28-second rhyme Songs of Longing, Joy and Peace is a prelude to Glory; an excellent expression of worship to Jesus the glory of God. The synths and lively beats will excite you
Love is highlighted with the songs Live Love& the rarely titled 1+1. Respectively, the one conveys the message of the extravagant love of Jesus, to make it the foundation of our lives, and the other one is about marital love. Long Walk Home is gorgeously presented in an acoustic plus maracas ensemble. It describes the journey of the prodigal son home to his father. Another acoustic-based song Brand New is a message of need of a Savior and Redeemer that He alone can make us brand new. To conclude the album, there’s their harmonious & ethereal cover of the classic hymn My Jesus I Love Thee; any listener would love to join the chorus together with the choir on proclaiming our love to Him our Savior.
Heart is simply honest and raw. This jam-packed 14-track album is a rousing journey of faith, hope, love, healing and grace found in Jesus. Breathed upon by God, all of the songs are straight from the heart. A wonderful reminder and help for us to imitate Jesus. No wonder why The City Harmonic garnered lots of nominations and awards from various giving bodies! Open you heart and listen to the beat of the Heart!
ABOUT THE CITY HARMONIC
2011 Breakout Artist of the Year The City Harmonic barreled its way from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada onto the music scene with Introducing The City Harmonic, an EP featuring “Manifesto,” which soared to No. 5 on iTunes and captivated over a million viewers on YouTube. Top that with becoming the best selling new artist on Billboard’s Top Current Digital Sales Chart (over 80K downloads), and it’s enough, among life’s crazy distractions, to get your attention.
But this band—vocalist/songwriter and pianist Elias Dummer, bassist Eric Fusilier, guitarist Aaron Powell and drummer Josh Vanderlaan— isn’t content to feed the machine or build a fan base so much as to build upon a dream. And not a dream as in a fairy tale. But THE Dream. These four guys grapple with the tension of this world, crafting it into anthems of longing, hope, and love—songs of light for ‘seeing through a glass darkly.’ The City Harmonic makes music that makes you reconsider what you really believe… about yourself, your world and your God.
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ABOUT INTEGRITY MUSIC
Integrity Music is a division of David C Cook, a leading nonprofit global resource provider serving the Church with life-transforming materials. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Integrity’s resources are distributed in more than 160 countries and sold worldwide. Originally founded as a direct-to-consumer music club in 1987, Integrity grew into one of Christian music’s biggest success stories and in the process helped ignite the widespread popularity of contemporary praise and worship music. Integrity Music’s roster includes: Lincoln Brewster, Paul Baloche, Rend Collective Experiment, All Sons & Daughters, Brothers McClurg, Daniel Bashta, Gateway Worship, New Life Worship, Christine D’Clario, ALM:uk, Planetshakers, Worship Central, Brian Doerksen and GRAMMY Award winners the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and Israel Houghton.
See more at: http://integritymusic.com/
Disclosure: I received free review copy of the album in exchange of my honest review and opinion. Special thanks to Ms.S.Walker
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