Description
Joy of Every Longing Heart is the second Christmas album by the American singer and songwriter Sara Groves, independently released on Mantle Music in November 2019, marketed, manufactured, and distributed by Fair Trade Services. The album was recorded by Brad Bivens at Art House North and the Dorothy Haas Memorial Garage Space with John Mark Nelson producing. Mixed by Ben Gowell. Strings arranged by John Arndt.
I’ve gone on many times about how Sara Groves is a national treasure – an artist with an amazing consistency who produces musical projects filled with honesty, integrity, and her own unique stamp as an artist. In an age of demographics, test-groups, and mass-produced ‘praise and worship product’ that’s something rare and to be treasured. And so, with mixed expectations (because I know what she’s capable of, but I get suspicious about Christmas albums) I do my initial listening to Sara Groves’ second Christmas album, Joy of Every Longing Heart (the first was O, Holy Night) …and my fears are laid to rest. The title alone should have told me.
Don’t expect jingle bells, snowballs, and sleigh rides – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Sara, though (because she’s Sara Groves), has taken the path of an introspective Christmas. The album, warmly produced by John Mark Nelson, is an aural fireplace of flickering light and contemplation of the incarnation. There are some low-level electronics and even some percussion, but the real stars of Joy of Every Longing Heart are piano, bass, woodwinds, violin and cello. There’s a beautiful intimacy to this just-over a half-hour of music. It’s as if every musician played just enough to create the mood to let The Story take center stage – and of course the ever-unassuming but always just-right vocals of Sara Groves – with simple elegance – sings the story the way we feel it inside.
Most of the song titles are familiar, although «O Come, O Come Emmanuel», «God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen», and «Winter Wonderland» have been given new melodies.
So there’s nothing fancy here – nothing tricky, cute, or cutting-edge. Most of the program is made up of traditional Christmas songs – as a matter of fact, we have to wait ‘til the fifth track to hear the first of Sara’s two originals («We Wait»). Oh, and for those of you who have been waiting for Sara to cover a song that was also covered by Stryper (come on, I know there must be three or four of you), «Winter Wonderland» is treated to a new melody and a more melancholy setting. «Just Like They Said» is the other Sara Groves original and it’s some golden Groves – a sweet song about discovering the Christ-child, in a setting mostly of piano and strings accompanying the vocal.
A sense of awe, mystery and wonder prevails on these songs. Is it wrong to review a project and use the word ‘nice?’ Well, this is a nice little Christmas album – and I mean that in the best possible way. This one is for the family. Maybe just for the season …but maybe not. Maybe it should be played every now and then throughout the year – maybe when you need to remember what this season really means. Merry Christmas, Sara, Troy and family. Thanks for letting us into your living room. [Bert Saraco, The Phantom Tollbooth, November 2017]
Sara Groves is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I rarely think of her when listing my favorites, but I’ve never heard anything from her that I haven’t loved. That includes her previous Christmas album, the glorious O Holy Night, from 2008. That album has been such a part of my Christmases for so many years that I almost didn’t want a follow-up, for fear of disappointment.
I shouldn’t have worried. Groves is just delightful, and her second Christmas album, Joy of Every Longing Heart, is gorgeous. Its seven carols and two originals are all impeccably arranged, and Groves’ warm voice still feels like an old friend. She rewrites the melody of «O Come O Come Emmanuel», a bold move in any case, but doubly so with one of my favorite carols. Except she nails it, giving this most lovely of laments a new spin that actually works. She sticks close to the originals otherwise, mixing the traditional («Come Thou Long Expected Jesus») with the whimsical («Winter Wonderland»).
And there at track five, she gives us a Sara Groves classic in the form of «We Wait», a superb cry out into the darkness with a clever piano figure and a sweet chorus. Her other original, «Just Like They Said», is similarly lovely, a first-person account of the birth of Jesus from a forgotten bystander. That’s one thing Groves does very well: she finds a person who hasn’t been heard and gives that person a voice. Joy of Every Longing Heart is missing a novelty tune as great as «Toy Packaging», but otherwise is a terrific second Christmas record from a tremendous talent. [Andre Salles, Tuesday Morning 3 a.m., December 2019]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/joy-of-every-longing-heart/1482646693)
CD tracklist:
01. O Come O Come Emmanuel – 4:32
02. Angels From the Realms of Glory – 4:44
03. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – 3:25
04. Come Thou Long Expected Jesus – 3:27
05. We Wait – 3:49
06. Winter Wonderland – 3:46
07. Just Like They Said – 4:09
08. Tidings – 1:01
09. Let Our Gladness Have No End – 3:19
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