Artist Info:Discography Album length: 13 tracks Street Date: October 4, 2005
Being a Sara Groves fan means a couple of things. First, you have to
really dig in to her music and be ready to be convicted. Second, you've
got to pick up Add To The Beauty, her latest album. While The Other Side
of Something, her last national release, held a few darker undertones of
conviction in personal life and finding identity in who you are in
Christ, Add To The Beauty begins to look outward. Themes of community,
reconciliation, and building the kingdom of Christ run rampant
throughout the thirteen tracks.
Sara's musical style has grown in some ways, and yet remains the same in
others. Her music took a slight shift during her All Right Here album
into an almost country sound, but for Add To The Beauty, Sara has
returned to the feel of Conversations. Every song flows into the next
one, giving the feel of one continuous music experience with varying
motifs that end with the reprise of "When It Was Over."
This time around, Sara brings in some heavy hitters to help out with the
songwriting and producing. Brown Bannister, Ed Cash, Gordon Kennedy,
and Joel Hanson are all out for Add To The Beauty, making this possibly
Sara's best album yet. Scott Dente also shows up a few times
playing acoustic guitar, and tobyMac's own Nirva Dorsaint makes a few
appearances on "Loving A Person," "How Can I Tell," "It's Going To Be
Alright," and "Just Showed Up For My Own Life."
"When It Was Over" starts things out a little slow-paced, but is a
perfect fit to follow The Other Side of Something. After working through
themes of tapping into the power of God (songs like "Jeremiah"), now
Sara is focusing on reconciliation with fellow believers. She somewhat
speak-sings through the beginning of the song, which leads into the
chorus, "Oh love wash over a multitude of things... make us whole..."
"Just Showed Up For My Own Life" comes next, and bears an upbeat sound
reminiscent of her duet with Joel Hanson on the Traveling Light project's
title track. And seeing as Joel Hanson collaborates with her on
"Just Showed Up...," this isn't a surprise. Lyrically, she takes a peek at the ideas
of starting to look outward in life, and how she has finally shown up
for her purpose on earth. "You Are The Sun" brings more of Sara's
poignant songwriting into play, with thoughts about how Jesus is the
sun, we are the moon, and in order to reflect His light, we've got to
turn our faces to Him. "It's Going To Be Alright" is written as Sara speaking to a
friend about a difficult experience in their life. The acoustic piano
and guitar sound continue with the title track, and starts to really
hit on the theme of this record: the building of the kingdom of God.
Opening the second half of Add To The Beauty is "Rewrite This
Tragedy," another song that flirts the line between slow and upbeat at
points. Sara hits on themes started in "Roll To The Middle" on The Other
Side... and after even quoting lines from her previous album in
"Something Changed," this record is beginning to feel like a true
companion to The Other Side of Something. Piano seems to be the main
instrument of choice for Groves, and it leads the bouncy "How Can I
Tell." At certain points in the course of the album, some of Sara's songwriting leans toward the cheesy,
with lines like, "So I'll expand my vocabulary / Spend some time at the
local library..."
"To The Moon" is a short (barely a minute and a half long) track bearing
the central message of leaving this earth, getting away from all of its
nonsense and taking the church to the moon. Sara Groves leads on with the
piano, and Brown Bannister joins in the background choir as Sara takes
"our church to the moon." In, "Kingdom Comes," a highlight track, she walks
through different ways that the body of Christ can
reach out and be "a little stone... a little mortar" in building up the
church. "Why It Matters" follows, simply lead by piano and
cello, almost bearing sounds reminiscent of "Tent In The Center of Town"
from Conversations, sans that 'circus tent' feel.
Second to last, "Loving A Person" touches on themes of simply loving people
"just the way they are... it's no small thing." The song keeps with the
slowed tone that reminds the listener very much of the ending
tracks on Conversations. Closing the album out is "When It Was Over
(Reprise)," which stays loyal to the soft feel of this entire record.
Mixing together lines from the different tracks, Groves effectively
reminds us of all that we have learned through this journey she takes us on on
Add To The Beauty.
After everything, this record is definitely the companion album to The
Other Side of Something, and builds on the sound that Groves first
created back on Conversations. Addressing her usual weighty themes and
convicting topics, Sara Groves has put together quite the listening
experience. Perfect for rainy afternoons, Add To The Beauty is great for
those looking for a soft sound and a definite thought-provoking
conversation with Sara Groves.
- Review date: 10/13/05, written by Shaun Stevenson
Artist Info:Discography Record Label: INO Records
Album length: 13 tracks
Street Date: October 4, 2005
Buy It:Amazon.com
Artist Info: 
