Threads

Description

Threads is the seventh album by the American rock band Geoff Moore & The Distance, released on ForeFront Records in 1997, distributed in the US by Chordant Distribution Group. The album was recorded by Julian Kindred at Antenna Studios in Brentwood, Tennessee; with Tedd T., Brent Milligan, and Geoff Moore producing. Mixed by Joe Chiccarelli assisted by Chuck Linder (tracks: 1, 3, 5 to 7, 9) and Kindred (tracks: 2, 4, 8, 10) at Secret Sound in Nashville and Antenna Studios in Brentwood.

After a three-album stint in rather consumer-propelled pop territory, Geoff Moore & The Distance begins making a return to its rock foundation with ‘Threads’. The resulting sound is more muscular and guitar-driven than anything the band has done in the ’90s, but still manages to sound remarkably like – well, like Geoff Moore & The Distance.

Produced by Moore, Tedd T. (Rebecca St. James, Code of Ethics) and Brent Milligan (Considering Lily), Threads features more of the solid playing we’ve come to expect from this band. The album also, for the most part, continues with straight-up messages of hope and encouragement which seem to be directed primarily to teenagers. While this is not at all a bad thing, it still would be nice to see more of the soul-baring of past albums like ‘Foundations‘.

«I’m Free» opens the project with a rocking blast, confidently declaring that “He who the Son sets free is free indeed.” Moore does some admirable vocal stretching in «The In Betweens», and he has never sounded more vulnerable than he does on the unusual «No Need to Explain». The title track was co-written with Steven Curtis Chapman and dc Talk‘s Toby McKeehan and features the latter in a vocal duet (singing, not rapping!). It is a musically understated invitation to “Come as you are/ Weary, worn and tattered.”

‘Threads’ is not a perfect album. At times, the more rocking songs sound slightly shy of convincing, and some of the lyrical themes (“I know we can reach our generation”) come dangerously close to being tired and overused. Still, it is refreshing to see the band making a solid effort to break out of formulaic pop. [Michael Ciani, CCM, October 1997]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/threads/716401224)

CD tracklist:

01. I’m Free – 3:54
02. Threads – 3:53
03. The In Betweens – 4:22
04. Declaration – 4:17
05. Desperate Men – 3:44
06. No Need To Explain – 5:10
07. Only A Fool – 5:39
08. Scattering – 3:43
09. Running To You – 4:44
10.a The Letter – 3:52
10.b Stand

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by ForeFront Records.