Sixpence None the Richer will forever be associated with CCM. After all, that’s where they got their start, and they remain one of only a handful of CCMers to achieve success in the secular industry. You’d be hard-pressed to find a review that doesn’t make a comment with regards to the “Christian” content of this album. Whatever. I’m not fooled. You can paint John 3:16 on a dumpster, but the garbage is still in there. Sixpence is a pop/rock band. Does the album rock or what?

First, the bad news: I’ve heard better albums. After several listens, I can say that the album is too hit-oriented. The songwriting is focused enough, but no explicit themes seem to hover over the whole. I’m not a believer in concept albums, but nothing distinguishes Divine Discontent as a unified statement. Also, the production is far too standard. It’s neither wide-open nor intimate, neither raw nor symphonic. Simply put, the album sounds engineered. “Dizzy,” in particular, suffers because of this. It comes off as timed rather than eternal. That’s disappointing – bandleader Matt Slocum should know better.

There’s some filler here, too. The cover of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (what next, “Melt With You”?) is bland, and deserves to be relegated to b-side status in favor of other songs in their repertoire (as do “Still Burning” and “Tension is a Passing Note”). I’d say the execs were mining for another smash hit. Shucks.

However, as careers go, I’d file Divine Discontent under the same category as U2’s War or Radiohead’s The Bends. Those albums, as albums, were flawed and a bit immature as well, but boasted seven or eight powerhouse songs. Divine Discontent, in the same way, displays an exceptionally talented band about to hit its stride.

The album’s lead single, “Breathe Your Name,” is every bit as infectious (though not as fresh) as the band’s 1997 breakthrough single “Kiss Me.” It sports a sweetly funky beat that lends itself nicely to the morning commute, and the studio flourishes embellish the melody rather than overshadowing it. The album segues seamlessly into the succulent riffage of “Tonight,” on which the band really proves its metal as a rock act for the first time since their 1995 album This Beautiful Mess. The guitars are powerful, but they don’t overpower Leigh Nash’s sweet but solid vocals, which actually perform an impressive give-and-take with the lead guitar. “Down and Out of Time” liberates the tempo without dampening the impact of the first two tracks. “Paralyzed” and “Eyes Wide Open” both succeed exactly where the aforementioned “Still Burning” failed. The songwriters hone Sixpence’s lyrical perspective from an overly introspective wash to a focused ecclesiastical portrait on these tracks. Bravo.

The real showstopper here, though, is the mid-album masterpiece “Melody of You.” The song is both plaintive and exalting – I’d suspect that Slocum himself often lies awake amazed that, “Yes, I really wrote that song.” Consider the first verse alone:

You’re a painting with symbols deep,
A symphony, soft as it shifts to dark beneath
A poem that flows, caressing my skin
In all of these things you reside and
I want to flow from the pen, bow, and brush,
Then paper, string, and canvas touch
With ink and the air to dust your light
From morning ’til the black of night

The delivery flows out of this verse, an acoustic guitar simply plucked building into a symphony of absent joy. The chorus itself seems a prayer, none too holy: “This is my call / I belong to you / This is my call / To sing the melody of you / This is my call / I can do nothing else / I can do nothing else.” Augustine, eat your heart out.

As I said before, Divine Discontent does not break into any top album lists. It takes a grand conspiracy of circumstances, resources, and inspiration to create such an album, so I’ll chide the record industry rather than the band. However, the album is a gainful progression in Sixpence’s development, and it contains a fistful of phenomenal songs. As I see it, when U2 made War, they were still years away from the The Joshua Tree or Achtung, Baby.

Keep it up, kids. I’m excited.

Related Links:
Buy Divine Discontent at Amazon.com

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Why deny the obvious child? John Carswell makes a mighty good pizza. To get yourself a slice, stop by his blog: whatsgoinon