PT Bruiser

2. Love & War & The Sea In Between by Josh Garrels

What if Homer had been a Christian and had written The Odyssey as the Pilgrim’s Progress of classical antiquity? What if the story had been sung by a golden-throated tenor with beautiful harmonies and acoustic brilliance?

If you had told me back in January that Christianity Today’s album of the year would make it on my top ten list, I would’ve been skeptical. Definitely wouldn’t have guessed it would take the #2 spot—not in a year with Okkervil River, The Mountain Goats, Iron & Wine, and The Decemberists releasing. But what a boring year it would’ve been in music without a few surprises, and Josh Garrels was just that for me.

Before we go any farther, you should know: this album is still available free as a “year of jubilee” giveaway—you could be listening to it even as you read this review. My brother David introduced me to Josh Garrels, but it wasn’t until I heard about the free album that I actually gave him a try. I was won over quickly and completely one weekend in early October, immediately proselytizing all my friends (the free album was a major selling point).

See, Love & War & The Sea In Between, as I alluded to earlier, is the life of Ulysses as an allegory of our quest to return home to Jesus. Josh Garrels sings the tunes with a rich and gentle voice that would make you kill yourself out of jealously if you weren’t enjoying the sound so much. And the melodies and instrumentation underlying it all are world-class—the album is acoustic, but expansively so. It has hopeful organ chords and a grim and jaw-set rap song and joyous mandolins.

There are songs that you can sing from the depths—like “Ulysses,” a desperate search for hope amidst tribulation. There are songs so happy that you can almost see the new heaven descending to join the new earth at the end of all things—like “Beyond the Blue,” a celebration of the topsy-turvy ways of Christ’s kingdom. And there’s “Farther Along,” which promises the backwards-working magic of heaven that will make sense of every seeming tragedy in our world. I’d be hard-pressed to name a song more hopeful, or a song that has comforted me more in hard times (I guess “Never Quite Free” and “Vito’s Ordination Song” could contend for the title).

How can I get you to listen to this album if you haven’t yet? It’s free free free, it’s good good good, and it’s true true true. Don’t miss it.