Customer Reviews

On the Blue

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
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Joel Augé (pronounced Oh-Zay) is a Canadian Gospel artist and "On the blue" is his contemplative acoustic driven US debut. Like his music, his lyrics are simple, yet heartfelt, words one can relate to.

Opening cut "So deep in love" introduces gentle beats and edgy guitars and lyrics expressing his deep love for God. Following this is my favourite song on the CD, the melancholic "Where You go I go" with fluid vocals reminding me of Kevin Max of DC Talk. Apparently a cover of a song by Brian Johnson with lyrics promising to do all God bids as he sings "So how can I expect to walk without You/When every move that Jesus made was in surrender/I will not begin to live without You/For You alone are worthy/And You are always good".

Some of the songs are stripped and unadorned, with melodic and deeply moving lyrics, prime example being the title track, an acoustic ballad about being at peace while out at sea (metaphorically) with Jesus at one's side. Similar are the beautiful "I am here to praise You" and the tender "I am here to praise You".

"Call on me" is a beautiful slow building ballad urging one to call on God in times of despair/fear/destitution/persecution and He will give you rest. Closing is the stark haunting "I know my place" with a yearning vocal performance.

The only upbeat songs are the chugging rocker "Even the rocks" and the pulsing U2/Coldplay-like Praise/Worship song "Glory glory".

This is a beautiful debut, with lyrics one can sing along to when adrift "On the blue".

I am not a regular listener of contemporary christian music, so I only kind of liked this cd. I first heard Joel Auge when I downloaded "So deep in love" single free on iTunes. I immediately liked his sound. I bought the cd and actually liked only a couple tracks. It's not what I expected. He has a smooth accoustic sound. Kind of "pop"ish. Not every track is a winner but I liked the title track "On the Blue". The song " I am here to praise you" has a pretty melody. Unfortunatley I think " So deep in love" is the best song on this cd and I got that for free.

There are times when the opening refrains of an album promise great things to come. The first time I popped in Canadian worship artist Joel Augé's debut solo album On the Blue an irrepressible grin took possession of my face. The howling love song composed to Jesus - "So Deep in Love" - captured my heart, and promised a great album - a promise that has largely been fulfilled.

Far from being a newcomer to Christian music, Augé has been performing and recording since 1999 with other bands. His debut album reflects his calling as worship leading, offering up what he calls `vertically inspired' songs - straight from his heart to God's. With the majority of the offerings on the album flowing from his own pen, the blending of straight-up praise and worship songs is carefully enhanced by the frequently sparse acoustic accompaniment of each work.

Augé terms his style `art-rock' - I'll admit that I'm not familiar with the label, but I'm impressed with what he does. Strong folk influences are felt throughout with his simple guitar picking and rhythmic cadences. However, punchy, upbeat tunes with electric guitar, bass, keyboards, and percussion are also present making up the backdrop for the rock-inflected songs.

It's hard to pick favorites from the disc; nearly each song is excellent, though some suffer from awkward or seemingly irrelevant lyrical phrases at times. While listening to the disc my husband even mentioned periods where the lyrics weren't as strong as they could have been. Hopefully as Augé matures in his song writing these slight glitches will be resolved. The overall strength of the album clearly overwhelms these `off' moments.

Like most worship albums, the first half of the album is geared towards the upbeat, rocking songs of straight-up praise. "So Deep In Love" is a clear winner, while "Even the Rocks" evokes images of irrepressible worship and ties in with scriptural images. "Every Heart" casts a vision for the time when we'll all surround the fallen and risen Lamb in singing His praises - beautiful.

The second half of the disc is clearly the folk-inspired, acoustic collection of worship songs - it's much more laid back, subdued, and even bittersweet. "On the Blue" is an atmospheric exploration of being in unexplored waters with only Jesus to cling to and "I Am Here to Praise You" is a softly convicting call to worship God no matter our circumstance. "Singing Hallelujah" was actually one of my least favorite tracks, it seems more of a collection of personal reminiscences that few listeners will be able to connect with, than a universally applicable song as the others tend to be.

Augé's tenor voice tends to soar into the upper heights of his range, soaring and undulating. His isn't a husky, hearty vocal performance - more of a plaintive, pleading style. Clearly, I'm a new fan. I could only have wished for a longer disc. Augé's work sits so well with me that I could enjoyably listen to a double-length album from him.

I saw Joel Auge perform some of these songs at Creation 2008 and was immediately taken not only by the lovely music and the lyrics but the sincerity and faith of the singer. He was a pleasure to listen to live as well as the many times I've enjoyed this CD-happily, these songs now run through my head! You won't be disappointed if you buy this!

Canadian Joel Auge offers his take on worship music with his solo debut. While it's got some rock, it's mostly an acoustic feeling disc. Unfortunately, I just can't get into all the words.

Granted, I find praise CD's hit and miss for some reason. Very rare is the worship focused disc that captures me. One reason is the overly mushy song that has been labeled the "Jesus is my girlfriend" song. That curse definitely strikes in "Stolen It Away." And as much as I love the music to "So Deep in Love," it falls into the category, too.

Then there's the strange case of "Singing Hallelujah." The song talks about praising God despite a loss of first love. Wonderful. I can definitely get behind that. That is, until the second verse when he starts singing about kids playing street soccer. Um, what does that have to do with anything?

But there are also some great tracks here. "Even the Rocks" is a fun, upbeat song. "I Am Here to Praise You" is a quiet song of commitment to praise despite life's trials. "I Know My Place" is a tender closer as Joel sings of God's protection and ability to call us back no matter how far we wander.

But my favorite song on here by far is the title track. "On the Blue" finds Joel mixing up styles from the simple guitar picking of the verses to pop rhythm of the chorus. And the lyrics wondering about how he would react to walking on the water like Peter did really appeal to me.

There are some great songs here. But there are some that are pretty poor as well. There's enough here to recommend it, but you might want to purchase individual songs rather then get the whole thing.