Not long ago it was hard to justify most instrumental music within the Christian community. Original instrumentals, unlike hymns that carry obvious religious content, were considered pointless. By the mid-’80s, however, church-targeted record companies, such as Sparrow with their Meadowlark label or Maranatha with Colours, wanted to catch the “new age” wave, by packaging such music as meditative. This utilitarian attitude toward music was part of the wallpaper.
Fortunately, times have somewhat changed.
On Spencer Capier’s new album, Plays Well With Others, you will find one instrumental hymn—“I Heard The Voice of Jesus Say”—but here it’s included as a beautiful tune that represents one of the many influences on Capier as a man and a musician.
The dominant mandolin picking and fiddle playing on the opening jig, “Higher Up and Higher In,” might make you expect an album of smooth Celtic music, but it isn’t typical here; there is no typical piece. Like “Voice of Jesus,” other cuts represent various influences and genres. Some are musical influences, others are literary and still others are spiritual. Spencer himself plays mandolin, violin, bouzouki, guitar and several other instruments.
“Lazarus,” the second track, is hard to categorize with its countrified guitars and fiddle, driving bass line and rock drumming. By the third cut, Capier takes another turn with a Mexican ballad. As the album continues, so do the surprises. What’s delightful is that it all flows and it all works!
The only non-instrumental piece is “You Would Like It If You Loved Me.” It features the voice of Lance Lewman reading snippets of traditional English poetry, connected by the recurring phrase, “Words, baby, words; gotta love the words.” The poems are not religious, but come from Shakespeare (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?), Robert Herrick (“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may”) and George Wither (“Shall I, wasting in despair”). It’s strangely refreshing that Capier didn’t feel obliged to recite psalms instead—admitting the full range of a believer’s life.
This album is sometimes playful, sometimes beautiful, and consistently well-crafted. (www.signpostmusic.com)
If Troy Donockley and Dave Bainbridge are not familiar names to you, I’d like to help change that. They are both members of the highly-innovative group Iona. The name comes from the island of Iona, from which Christianity spread to Scotland and northern Britain. Often their inspiration comes from such Celtic saints as Brendan, Patrick and Columba. To have some idea of Iona’s sound, blend progressive rock, Celtic music and jazz.
On From Silence, Donockley and Bainbridge explore the idea of sacred space, and permit themselves the luxury of meandering further down a meditative musical path than they could within the context of a rock band. This rich instrumental album was recorded live in Lincoln Cathedral with absolutely no pre-written music. The two musicians selected the instruments they would play, and let the visual and acoustic surroundings pull the music from them.
You’ll hear Bainbridge’s subtle atmospherics—usually alternating between keyboards and electric guitars—while Donockley primarily plays a low whistle, tin whistle and uileann pipes. The recording process, not merely capturing what took place, was very much a part of creating From Silence. The binaural stereo technique, which creates a three dimensional sound experience, makes this album ideal for headphone listening.
Veil Of Gossamer is quite different again. The musical palette is much wider, with a large cast of contributors, and here Bainbridge’s electric guitar often wails in a rock vein. Voices are primarily used for instrumental effect with very few words in English being heard (although the booklet includes translations and quotations which inform interested listeners). The overarching inspiration for the album comes from an incident in the life of St. Cuthbert.
Since Iona’s lead singer, Joanne Hogg, decided to take an extended maternity leave after their last studio album Open Sky (2000), Iona fans, including me, have been awaiting the new Iona CD—which is now in the recording stage. In the meantime, wonderful music continues to flow from the Iona family, including these beautiful albums. (www.iona.uk.com)
D.S. Martin is a Canadian poet and writer. For years he’s been fascinated with the many roots and branches of contemporary music, particularly from a Christian perspective.
