Ascend The Hill “Hymns”
September 28, 2010
Hey People, we are gonna discuss Ascend The Hill’s recent release Hymns below. Hope you join in the conversation. Please listen through the entire thing at least twice. And really listen! The band allows you to download the whole thing for free at www.comeandlive.com. Which is awesome but we would love for you to buy it on itunes. Just comment below on whatever comes to your mind. Treat it as a piece of art. Listen carefully and be critical. But speak in your own language. Don’t feel that you must use musical terms. You are an expert in what you like. Let us know how you feel.
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I have really enjoyed the record. The rhythmic choices are very interesting. I love the lyrics of Hymns and to hear them put to modern music is always an attention getter for me. Although his voice is amazing, I do wish that they would sing in a range that worked for a congregation. Mainly because I am looking for material. My favorites are most definitely, Take the World but give me Jesus, Love of God, and I Surrender All. Overall, I would recommend this record. I think it’s honest, very well put together, simple enough to understand, but interesting enough to keep me listening.
This was a fun record to listen to. I would have never found it or bought it, so I am glad it was free and Nic sent me the link. The recording sounds a little thin and rushed, I am assuming it was done on the cheap. If nothing else this is a wonderful documentation of tasty drumming with lots of risky production moves, which are very inspiring. Cool use of bgv’s etc….
The musicians and the vocalist sound like they actually believe in what they are singing. That is great.
Most of the melodies are about 3rd too high to make happen in our congregation. Great to listen to, but far from accessible. The music style is a common one that many bands have already beat to death, but it was really cool to hear worship music done in this style.
I would love to hear some non-hymns originals.
I agree, especially the part about their believability. They have always been a band that has flowed well. It will be interesting to see what they do next.
I have listened intently to only 3 songs so far; Love of God, How great thou art, be thou my vision. Overall it had my attention but not because it moved me musically. It was cool to hear some of the gutsy sounds and experiments but all three seemed to lack something strong to move you from a airy verse-ish feel to a more solid something. It was almost like a worship jam band that kept going on with one sound per song but without the jam and minus the weed.
The things I like the most were the unusual BGV in the beginning Love of God and the tribal/abrupt rhythms. I thought it was real creative.
I know Be thou my Vision is a song that need to be slow and focused but this version seems to be on the wrong record player speed. It would have been different if something would have peeked a different emotion at one point but the longevity aspect of their inner jam band took over again. Also I thought for that particular song the drums were too far forward in the recording to give the lyrics the weight they needed.
I have also liked that a lot of these Hymns I haven’t heard before. The poetry in hymns is always interesting and the new arrangements made me dive into the words.
I love this record! I went and saw them this past weekend, and they are my featured artist on my blog. Joel was awesome enough to do an interview! http://www.bethedomino.org/2011/07/13/domino-ascend-hill/