1. Sound Of Love
2. Love Is Making A Way
3. Glorious
4. Still Here With Me
5. All Around The World
6. Mercy (Fall On Me)
7. What It Must Be Like
8. Walk On Water
9. I Need You
10. Consume Me
Portland based band Sixteen Cities are about to release their second album Love Is Making a Way. Sixteen Cities started out by leading worship on a Wednesday morning in their high school, but as soon as they graduated school they felt led to go full time.
The first thing that grabs my attention with this album is the way it sounds very modern pop rock, like Maroon 5. It is a very popular sound and this album falls straight into that box with opening track Sound Of Love and title track Love Is Making a Way. Things slow down for the... Read More Portland based band Sixteen Cities are about to release their second album Love Is Making a Way. Sixteen Cities started out by leading worship on a Wednesday morning in their high school, but as soon as they graduated school they felt led to go full time.
The first thing that grabs my attention with this album is the way it sounds very modern pop rock, like Maroon 5. It is a very popular sound and this album falls straight into that box with opening track Sound Of Love and title track Love Is Making a Way. Things slow down for the big pop ballad of the album Glorious, with added strings for depth of sound there is even a big pop key change. I might not be a fan of stuff like that, but it does work well in this kind of song.
The album goes a little bit poppy for my liking at times, from the opening tracks that had a bit of swagger and groove, Still Here With Me falls more into the pop rock category like Justin Bieber. But there's nothing wrong with that if that's what you like.
I suppose this is why I'm a bit confused with this album, as in one breath the album is groovy, funky and modern, then it goes a bit too High-School Musical pop, and then in the same breath with tracks like All Around The World it tries to rock the album back up again, and to be fair it's a great middle track album.
If that wasn't enough, Mercy (Fall On Me) which is the big standout track of the album, then goes on to be indie-rock/worship, sounding very much like The City Harmonic with the song talking about God's mercy falling over the listener. Closing track Consume Me has to be pointed out as a massive standout track on this album, as it is a beautiful and heartfelt way to end the record. A beautiful ballad and one of the best I have heard this year.
I'm not saying this is a confused album, I'm also not saying this is a bad album, far far from it. I'm just saying there is a lot going on with this album and I can't really tell you what style of music it wants to be. This of course does mean that the album doesn't just fall into a genre box, which is a great thing. The songs are very very good and catchy but sometimes it does feel like the album doesn't flow as well as other albums. If you want pop/rock tracks to listen to then Sixteen Cities know how to do them, and let me tell you they do it very well.
Review by Jono Davies
LTTM Rating 4 Out of 5 Stars Standout Tracks Consume Me
Mercy (Fall On Me)
Sound of Love
