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Simple Truth - Hear The Word

Local Review | Littleton, CO USA | 03/18/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Simple Truth
Hear The Word


By rights, groups like Simple Truth should have given up the ghost by now and shuffled-off to die like other spiritual-pop's other DIY deadwood. But, the fact the Simple Truth favor poignancy and finesse over the clodhopping thrills of Christian rock, means that selling out like so many of their fellow contemporaries have, makes us want to cheer them on with joy rather than embarrassment. Simple Truth piece together ever quality required from the finest exponents of The Gospel and 'Hear The Word' is where they all come together. Some are more obvious than others: the drawing narratives of the trio core of brother Joel, with sisters Rami and songwriter Tanya glide well against the clanging guitar work of Dave Beegle, the uncomplicated bass rumbles of Matt Puccini and Mike Olsan with drummer Brian Mason joyfully getting it on with the business of making music. More than that, tough 'Hear The Word' is a document of a group seizing the moment and making it entirely their own - to give. Like any indispensable invention, you're forced to wonder how you got by without it. This album is filled with examples of Simple Truth's indispensability. That these songs for the most part represent material that the band have played since their inception tells you a lot about its quality: the band were inspired from the beginning, and that spontaneity has been captured. It's a mood that is the the backbone to the songs, too - they represent an account of the Christina life (their lives, anyone's lives) as hectic and full of incident as their own singing. If there's a theme, then it's of the inarticulacy of "Though sinner, I am forgiven...I see the flaws, you capture perfection, for You are the artist remaking me" in 'The Artist,' is one lyric that sets the tone, but all the songs themselves are perfectly articulate. They're in the right time, in the right place, and they provide as many epiphanies as they're trying to describe. There's nothing unnecessary here. 'Hear The Word' is an album by a local group that knows its strengths, knows its collective mind. It doesn't sound like one songwriter and some other donkeys. Simple Truth stand together as fragile hearts and give us a gem in a world that offers nothing but cold drab thuggery. Cherish them."