Customer Reviews

Salvation Is Created: A Christmas Record From Bifrost Arts

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I love this Christmas album. The overwhelming feel of this CD for me is haunt. It's dark. Bing Crosby is about to get a beat-down. Don't let that scare you away! It's unique and beautiful.

Bifrost Arts is "a sacred music non-profit that exists to enrich the church and engage the world with beauty and truth." A variety of musicians are involved including like Sufjan Stevens, Isaac Wardell, Derek Webb, The Welcome Wagon, Denison Witmer, and J. Tillman among many others.

Salvation is Created is the new Christmas album from Bifrost Arts. It's their second album, following the release of Come O Spirit! Anthology of Hymns and Spiritual Songs Volume 1.

Song list...

O Come O Come Emmanuel - Instrumental lead-in to the album. Anticipatory. Eager.
Joy Joy!!! - Best song on the album. A spooky, Advent lullaby written by Isaac Wardell based loosely on a 17th century French tune. Wow. Just gorgeous. Download/listen here.
Bring the Torch Jeanette, Isabella - Originally published in 1553 in France. Two milkmaids stumble across Jesus as they go to milk their cows. They run to town to gather people to come, quietly, and see the Christ child sleeping (more at Wikipedia). Sufjan does a lo-fi version of this on Volume II of his Songs for Christmas. Many other versions are out there. This is the best I've heard. Simple and lovely.
O Little Town of Bethlehem - Traditional lyrics with a curious arrangement. Not a favorite for me, but should raise an eyebrow. Still fits the style of the album.
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence - 4th century. The haunting continues with this wonderful old song. Rich text...

Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand
Ponder nothing earthly minded, For with blessing in His hand
Christ our God to earth descendeth, Our full homage to demand.

O Come, Messiah, Come - Isaac Wardell song. Simple, acoustic strums and harmonies. A piano humbly joins in. The last 45 seconds seems to be a musical interlude prior to Silent Night.
Silent Night - So familiar. Yet so different. It's Silent Night at the prom during the slowest of the slow dances. Some Motown in there somewhere. Played just after "Earth Angel" at the Enchantment Under the Mistletoe dance.
Out of Heaven - Derek Webb and Evan Gregory sing a combination of lyrics from a 1678 song and Isaac Wardell. In the middle there's a gathering of sounds, a mingling, much like the unfathomable coming together of God and man in Christ, which is the theme of the song.
Veiled in Darkness Judah Lay - As mysterious as it sounds, there's a haunted house sound in the background. Have to hear it. I think the musicians may have been listening to a slowed down version of The Munsters theme song just before recording. Anyone else hear that? It's way cooler than I make it sound. Trust me.
Salvation is Created - A chilling falsetto building into "Hallelujahs," strings, jingle bells, drums, and voices. A great capstone.
This album is about letting the imagination run to the manger scene, and contemplating the theological and practical realities of God made flesh. Sometimes these realities are captured by marionettes in muted colors on a dimly lit stage. Sometimes they are found in the march of wooden soldiers who never show their faces. Sometimes they are expressed in a solemn dance. This is music more inspired by Tim Burton than Frank Capra. It's the subversion of Christmas as we know it, and it's wonderfully dark.

All of these songs are quite singable in their own way, though at times (Silent Night, for example) not as much as in the traditional versions. With candles lit and friends gatherd 'round, I think these songs will make your Christmas more thoughtful, meaningful, and lovely. I'm sincerely thankful for folks like Bifrost Arts who are making winning efforts to restoring beauty and truth to songs we can sing together. And through this album in particular, they help restore the melody of Christmas to sounds of mystery and awe. A sound found in our Scripture but too often missing from our Season.

May your Advent season be haunted by this beauty. Spread it around.

It is hard to describe how powerful this album is. It is perhaps one of the most unique Christmas albums you will ever listen to and it is certainly one of the finest. I will not repeat comments on each of the songs. Steve McCoy's review of December 1, 2009 does a good job at that.

As mentioned, much of the music is both haunting and beautiful at the same time. The arrangements maintain a degree of traditional sounds and melodies while employing great imagination as well. This album is so well crafted musically and vocally that it will exceed the highest expectations of most discerning listeners. The various vocalists and background singers bring their art to a perfection. At different points you can pick up on various influences from the Beatles to Ennio Morricone.

I believe we are entering into a new glorious era of worship music that is breaking free of the boundaries created by typical CCM markets and this album is one of several examples. This is truly art that brings aesthetic excellence to the divine gift of music. Listen and worship. Soli Deo Gloria.

This album is such a breath of fresh air when it comes to music for the Christmas season--rooted in the best traditions of Christmas music past, it is re-interpreted by today's generation of musicians of faith. Neither your usual sentimental Christmas fare, nor polished Christmas pop tunes, it stands apart on its own merit.

This album is heavy on piano and strings and light on electric guitar and drums (at least drum kits). It's more to the folky end of the spectrum, but most rock listeners would still like it. Then I wonder if "folk" and "rock" are even useful descriptions, because alot of the airy percussion and background instruments sound as if they are programmed, but without sounding very electronic at all. There is also a cinematic quality to the music, like a Tim Burton soundtrack as others have mentioned, or the Wizard of Oz, even. All this is done with a straight face, and it actually works well.

"Silent Night" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem" are like memories from an old ice rink. "Messiah" and "Out of Heaven" sound like earnest prayers. "Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella" is darkly warm and beautiful. "Joy Joy!!!," "Let All Mortal Flesh," and "Veiled in Darkness" are all richly layered minor tunes. "Salvation is Created" is at turns peaceful and exultant.

This has become my favorite Christmas record.