Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Some Great New Music

For this week's Watercooler Wednesday, I thought I would highlight a debut CD I got recently and am loving.

The CD's is Josh Wilson's debut, Trying to Fight the Ocean in a Cup. (Link takes you to my full Epinions review.)

This CD fits perfectly into the singer/songwriter pop mold I like so much. In fact, it almost fits in there too perfectly. I was about to dismiss it, but I gave it a second listen. And now I'm hooked.

The music is fun and catchy. I find myself bopping my head along with multiple songs as I listen.

Yet the words are wonderful. Some songs are encouraging. Some are challenging. "Beautiful Like This" is a wonderful praise ballad. "Oak Avenue" is a sobering reminder of opportunity lost.

The standout is the writing is is absolutely honest, even when it is having fun.

And there's plenty of fun. I do think this is the first CD I've ever seen that has a "No Thanks" section. (For the record, Josh Wilson doesn't thank high gas prices, cavities, pop-up ads, and the Black Smoke Monster from Lost. That last one cracked me up.)

The first single from the disc is "3 Minute Song," which is exactly as advertised. During those three minutes, Josh muses on how hard it is to fit all there is to know about God and eternity in a short pop song. Yes, it's slightly tongue in cheek, but it manages to be fun (I'm always smiling as I hear it) and a good reminder about how big God really is all at the same time. I like this song enough that I downloaded the chorus as the ringtone for my cell phone.

So if you're in the market for a new artist, give Josh a chance.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just listened to this album yesterday - well, at least to the little snippets they give you on itunes. I was intrigued enough to come back to him again today - I think I'll have to buy a couple of the tunes and get the full JW experience!

Mark Baker said...

After about a week off from it, I am back and as addicted as ever. If you buy it, you may not listen to much else for a while.