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Frontman, singer and songwriter for Frozen Ocean, David Swanson says in his press release "We live in a crazy world, I'm constantly amazed by the extremes I see in our culture. One second you see acts of great kindness and love then the next, acts of unspeakable greed and evil."
And that's what comes out on his new free album from Come&Live, In Exile, songs about those subjects: greed, hope and the mysteries of love. But before we get into the album, let me tell you a bit more about the band. David is a big fan of collaboration, so he...
Read More Frontman, singer and songwriter for Frozen Ocean, David Swanson says in his press release "We live in a crazy world, I'm constantly amazed by the extremes I see in our culture. One second you see acts of great kindness and love then the next, acts of unspeakable greed and evil."
And that's what comes out on his new free album from Come&Live, In Exile, songs about those subjects: greed, hope and the mysteries of love. But before we get into the album, let me tell you a bit more about the band. David is a big fan of collaboration, so he called upon longtime friends, Matt Greiner (August Burns Red) and Andy Nelson (Wrench in the Works) to handle drum duties on 'In Exile'. "Matt and Andy are both guys I've known for a long time and am so proud of what they’ve contributed to the songs". With friends at the ready, what does this album sound like?
Opening track Caught In The Air bursts into life with a distorted yet atmospheric repeated riff, with marching and building drums, this is an interesting start to the collection of songs. Building up and down at different moments, it's the kind of instrumental song that gives a place to express your own words of worship to God. With around a minute of the song left to go, the drums cut out and the tone of the guitar changes, a bit of a surprise that as what was building up, totally changed the whole aspect of the song. Not an obvious start, yet an interesting creative opening number.
The indie creativity continues into Empty Seed, with harmonious vocals and a sort of ticking guitar part, the stylistic music again comes out in this song. The songs take a slightly darker edge on track Drawing Circles In The Sand, not that it's a depressing song, it's just a bit more atmospheric and has an edge to it.
There are two strong parts to this album, one is the creativity and clever little moments in the songs which adds depth to the music. For me, every time I heard the song again I picked up a different little quirky moment, this kept me interested to explore the songs more. The second part is the vocal warmth of David Swanson's singing, he is a strong vocalist who sings to his strengths.
It's great to see Christian music being so creative and not settling for the so called norm, this is another album that is creative with interesting guitar sounds and someone trying to push the acoustic folk rock musical boundary that little bit further. Frozen Ocean are another band I can recommend for people who like bands like Mumford and Sons and Owl City.
Review by Jono Davies
LTTM Rating 4.5 out of 5 Stars
Standout Tracks
Empty Seeds
Drawing Circles In The Sand
In Flight
