Sixpence None The Richer – Divine Discontent
The band’s final group effort before going their separate ways to new
careers, Sixpence None The Richer’s swan song isn’t one of those farewell albums that makes you feel like you understand perfectly well why they’re calling it a day. Divine Discontent is an example of the best you can hope to do with a farewell album: the listener is still likely to want more when the show’s over.
“Breathe My Name”, a twitchy song with quirky chorus harmonies, exemplifies what I miss about Sixpence already – the combination of Matt Slocum’s songwriting and guitar work and Leigh Nash’s voice is a winner when the band is firing on all cylinders.
The cover of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” surprised me quite a bit. I’ve heard everything from choral interpretations to reggae covers of it before, and it’s a testament to the power of the original song as written that it stands up to (nearly) every permutation I’ve heard it put through. This is one of the better covers I’ve heard, transforming into a guitar-based number without the trademark organ solo of the original. It’s also interesting to hear a female vocalist do the song.
Even more surprising is the hard-hitting “Paralyzed”, which seems almost like something one would expect the Cardigans to do. Lyrically, it goes a little bit outside of what one would expect from a Christian band with crossover success. There’s nothing in the song that just shocks me speechless or offends me, I just wasn’t expecting to hear it from these guys. I’m really pleased to hear impassioned, non-cookie-cutter anti-war lyrics from a Christian group, even if they’re pre-Iraq War.
Ironically for an album that includes a cover of “Don’t Dream It’s Over”, a paraphrase of a passage that I remember reading in a book about Crowded House springs to mind: Divine Discontent doesn’t sound like a band that’s on its way out, but a band proving it’s fighting to live. That certainly seems like an apt description for Sixpence None The Richer’s final studio album.
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- Breathe Your Name (3:56)
- Tonight (3:52)
- Down And Out Of Time (3:28)
- Don’t Dream It’s Over (4:03)
- Waiting On The Sun (2:54)
- Still Burning (4:02)
- Melody Of You (4:50)
- Paralyzed (3:54)
- I’ve Been Waiting (4:19)
- Eyes Wide Open (3:28)
- Dizzy (6:36)
- Tension Is A Passing Note (3:30)
- A Million Parachutes (6:19)
Released by: Reprise
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 55:11
Yep, it’s the “Kiss Me” band. Thanks to heavy MTV rotation of a song which was played on Dawson’s Creek, Sixpence None The Richer’s 1997 album suddenly wound up being a hot commodity – which is a good thing, since their self-titled CD didn’t deserve the trip into obscurity that it initially took.