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Album Review :
 Loud Harp - Loud Harp

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Artist: Loud Harp
Title: Loud Harp
Label: Come&Live!
Release Date: 06/26/12
Reviewer: Carter Fraser

Tracklisting:

  1. Hold Me Together
  2. Untitled
  3. Hide Me Away
  4. Your Love Never Runs Out
  5. It’s You
  6. Like A Dove
  7. You Found Me
  8. On Solid Ground
  9. Always With You

I’m not claiming to have heard nearly every Come&Live! release; in fact I’ve probably heard a very small fraction of them. Yet many of the artists I have tried on the label share several characteristics, which is not necessarily a bad thing. There’s always a strong worship focus in the lyrics (which is predictable when the artists are referred to as “musicianaries”), but stylistically there is often a strong soft/loud dynamic to go along with a gentle, simple post-rockish melodicism. Which describes Loud Harp to a tee. The two-piece out of Colorado and Utah’s self-titled debut presents nine simple tenderhearted tunes of worship.

Loud Harp get help in the drumming department, especially on tracks like “It’s You” and “Always With You.” The percussion elements are generally kept very muted, but the jittery rhythms on said tracks add a significant amount of nuance. Asher Seevinck’s heart-on-his-sleeve voice is another highlight, maintaining a slightly gritty edge while singing with a strong sense of humility and poise. Lyrically, Loud Harp are fairly run of the mill within modern worship lyricism, with simple lines like “Son of Man / reach out your hand and touch / my weary heart / Son of Man / reach out your hand and heal my failing heart / It’s You / that I need.” The lyrics are often repeated over Loud Harp’s gentle tremolo picking. Blandness aside, Loud Harp do succeed in creating an effective mood of devotion and meditation.

Overall: If you tend to enjoy Come&Live!’s worship releases, then Loud Harp should suit you well. It’s nothing you probably haven’t heard before, but it’s a solid release for quiet moments of solitude and reflection.

RIYL: The Ember Days, Ascend the Hill, Everett, The Glorious Unseen