Love and War and the Sea Inbetween

Josh Garrels

This is a magnificent album. I suspect if I sat down to talk Love & War & the Sea In Between over with Josh Garrels there would be at least a few uncomfortable moments. I get the sense that Garrels means the classic Christian symbols with less sense of their limitations than I — or perhaps he just believes with wilder abandon.

Or maybe we are kindred spirits.

For despite my theological wariness I am captivated by Garrels’ epic evangelical vision. By that I don’t mean the doctrinal bombast of “Evangelical-ism” (though there may be a tinge of that) but rather the gospel sense of the vastness and goodness of God. That sense is abundantly evident in Garrels’ songs. The whole album is so ambitious: Garrels’ layered lyrical symbolism, drawing from scripture and beyond, the stirring musicianship of the players, the rich production, all seem crafted to move a listener to respond to God who is not just fitted to the frame of our lives, but in whom our lives and the life of creation make so much sense as they can.

The album is available through his website.

Andrew Irvine