Description
The Shape of Grace is the sophomore album by the American pop duo Out of the Grey (husband-and-wife Scott and Christine Denté), released on Sparrow Records in 1992.
When husband/wife duo Scott and Christine Dente debuted in 1991 as Out of the Grey, they captured a lot of fans with their fresh blend of breezy pop music melded with folk/alternative influences. They managed to find ardent fans in the Christian rock community, and didn’t seem all that out of place opening for Susan Ashton and Steven Curtis Chapman.
It’s 1993 and Out of the Grey has come back with a release that, I’m glad to say, could disappoint some of their “alternative” fans: ‘The Shape of Grace’ isn’t just more of a pop album, it’s a great pop album; built on the foundation of Scott Dente’s remarkable guitar playing and Christine Dente’s breathy, angelic voice. It’s just that, however impossibly, everything’s been codified around even stronger melodies and arrangements.
Broken down into components, ‘The Shape of Grace’ immediately announces itself with «Steady Me», a cool, catchy pop gem with a jangling chorus that has a richer wall of vocals than the duo’s debut would seem to have promised. You gotta turn it up loud and you gotta sing along.
The title track is a sequel of sorts to last album’s «Perfect Circle», which they cleverly used the geometric shape to show how it can be at once a stumbling block to some and a rock of comfort to others. «The Shape of Grace», written about Christine’s brother, shows how a changed heart can at last see the unseeable – and finally recognice the shape of that which is without shape.
«Dear Marianne», the best open letter I can remember since Sweet Comfort Band’s «Haven’t Seen You», is a gripping ballad that wonders where an old friend could be after these years: “All of these years I have worried and wondered/ What’s become of you/ But all these years haven’t/ Taken his love from you.”
«To Keep Love Alive» is at once a romantic ballad between husband and wife, yet a realization that romance ain’t enough: “I will give myself unselfishly/ Though the hard times are sure to come someday/ We won’t live a lie and say it will be easy/ To keep love alive.”
And «Bigger Than Life» – oh, that song – here’s a pop anthem that is as exciting for its musical charge as it is for its implication that Christ’s love for us is completely beyond our imagination: “Imagine a love that could stand through time/ Imagine a love that would have no pride/ Imagine a love that would choose to die/ This is a love that’s bigger/ And then imagine a love that comes back alive/ This is a real love, a love that’s bigger than life.”
And then things wrap up with the gentle and moving «Leave the Light On», a promise to lost friends not to give up until they’ve found their way out of the darkenss to the Light.
In its bouncier moments, ‘The Shape of Grace’ rivals the “Hey, turn this up really loud” pop accessibility of Charlie Peacock’s ‘Love Life‘ or the charging brilliance of Michael W. Smith’s ‘Change Your World‘. But Out of the Grey has also wrapped that delicate pop sheen around brooding and meaningful tracks reminiscent of R.E.M.’s darkly beautiful ‘Automatic for the People’, Sting’s ‘Soul Cages’ or Rick Elias’ ‘Ten Stories‘. This is an album that captures a smart brand of pop music that you can share with anyone, anywhere at anytime without reservation or apology.
The upshot is, long after this review is wrapping fish, I’ll be asking Out of the Grey to tell me once more about ‘The Shape of Grace’. [Chris Well, CCM, January 1993]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-shape-of-grace/715622547)
CD tracklist:
01. Steady Me – 3:36
02. Nothing’s Gonna Keep Me From You – 4:00
03. The Shape Of Grace – 5:21
04. Everywhere That You Go – 4:29
05. Dear Marianne – 3:27
06. Feels Like Real Life – 3:30
07. The Door Of Heaven – 4:08
08. To Keep Love Alive – 3:34
09. Bigger Than Life – 3:39
10. Leave The Light On – 4:46
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Sparrow Records.
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