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Sound of Melodies

Leeland | August 15th, 2006

Christian musician Michael W. Smith, who has been in the music industry for almost thirty years now, has hailed Leeland as “the best thing [he has] heard in a long, long time.” This new progressive rock band, called Leeland, named after its lead singer and guitarist Leeland Mooring, has recently come into the music industry as of this year. Basing their musical diversity in bands such as Coldplay and Delirious?, this new group has brought a fresh aspect, musically and lyrically, to Christian music.

Their first song (which is also the title track) sounds like a prayer to God. The song does not ask God to hear the praises of His people but instead says, Can you hear the sound of melodies / Oh, the sound of melodies / Rising up to You / Rising up to You, God. The song has a sort of 80's feel to it in the opening, with low key synthesizers building up to a crescendo of drums; then guitar and piano as well. “Sound of Melodies” sets the tone for the rest of the album as an almost praise and worship album. This song gives way to “Reaching,” which seems to be a typical prayer of getting to God, but uses the unique phrase, leaping over walls to get to You, as a description of our ardor for the Lord. After that is “Yes You Have” which combines the romantic phrase, You've stolen my heart, with the church phrase You've wiped away the stains / And broken all the chains in a song of the redeemed.

The next track, “Tears of the Saints”, is the longest and slowest track on the album but it also has the most distinctive message. This is a truly unique praise and worship song; it is a prayer not only that God will reach out and save this generation, but also that we would see the emergency and reach out ourselves. The lyrics sing, And all your children will stretch out their hands / And pick up the crippled man / Father, we will lead them home.

Beyond these songs, “Beautiful Lord” and “Can't Stop” are the two most interesting musically and lyrically. “Beautiful Lord” opens with guitar and piano and features violins during the chorus as well. Beautiful Lord, awesome and mighty / I'm captured by this love I see / Beautiful Lord, tender and holy / Your mercy brings me to my knees / It's Your mercy that makes me free / Beautiful Lord, are simple words of praise to the King with a unique climax right before the chorus only to slow the pace and then build up again just before the song fades away. Don't get too accustomed to the mellower feel though as “Can't Stop” kicks up the energy and decibels quite a bit. Singing almost like a Christian-ese version of Phil Collin's song “Can't Stop Loving You,” this song sounds like a melody to sing to a lover and it is—to our heavenly Lover who we fall more in love with each day. It would be fair to say now that the last five songs, while quite good, do not stand out in a unique way from the first half of the album. Rather, Leeland has given the listener more of the same good stuff that they presented at the beginning.

After hearing them in concert, Relevant magazine had this to say about the up-and-coming band, “If Leeland's live show is any indication of the band's promise, we'd better brace for big things.” Unique in sound and interesting lyrically, this band has become a big thing in the Christian music industry. I think this Grammy and Dove award nominated band will continue to give us a melody of sound as we anticipate their sophomore album release in February 2008.

Reviewed by Kaitlin Brewer on November 27th, 2007

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