Album Review :
Jenny & Tyler - Faint Not
By Eric Pettersson in Reviews | Comments closed
Artist: Jenny & Tyler
Album: Faint Not
Label: None
Release Date: November 30, 2010
Reviewer: Eric Pettersson
Tracklisting
- Song for You
- This Is Just So Beautiful
- Dreaming of Peace
- Faint Not
- Psalm 46
- Holding on to Hope
- Carry Me (featuring Mac Powell)
- Through Your Eyes
- As Long As Our Hearts Are Beating
- Anchored in Love
Jenny Somers claims to be making these songs with her husband “Tyler Somers,” but I think she’s lying and it’s actually either Jack Johnson or Coldplay’s Chris Martin in disguise, because his voice goes back and forth between sounding almost exactly like these two dudes. Fun comparisons aside, Tyler has a great voice that combines with his wife Jenny’s to guide this gentle but passionate folk album through forty-five minutes of me saying, “This is so good! How have I never heard of them before?”
This Nashville-based couple takes a little country, a little indie rock, a little pop, and a whole lot of folk, blending it with deep love and vibrant spirituality. They talk about finding our identity, confidence, and true love in God while walking through all parts of life. There is a delicate tremble of passion in Jenny’s voice, which compliments Tyler’s strong and solid (but very relaxed) vocals. At times they plead with God for strength (“Holding on to Hope,” “Carry Me”) or call out society for ignoring social injustice (“Faint Not”), but in general the record is very positive and uplifting, always emphasizing a way forward with God. Speaking of “Carry Me,” Third Day’s Mac Powell makes an appearance over the bridge that only adds to the incredible quality and feeling conveyed in these songs. Faint Not holds an interesting balance between being chill and relaxed on one hand and pouring out with emotion on the other. It ends with Jenny & Tyler’s reworking of “Anchored in Love Divine,” a song originally written in 1911 by James D Vaughan, one of the pioneers of Southern Gospel. It sounds great, and lyrics work perfectly to bring everything together and conclude the themes of the entire album.
Overall: Jenny & Tyler play songs that are relaxing, yet full of passion. They use these folk rock tunes to sing of the need for our lives to be centered in a relationship with God, and they do so with depth of experience and wisdom. Recommended for fans of The Civil Wars, Caedmon’s Call, and Mumford & Sons.