Birds & Cages

Personnel: Laura Musten (violin); Buffy Woessner (cello); Kelsey Harelson, Mark Lee Townsend, Justin Froning (percussion).
Audio Mixer: J.R. McNeely .
Recording information: S-S-Studio, Spring Hill, TN.
Illustrator: Wilmer Murillo .
Deas Vail may be a Christian band at heart, but they take most of their influences from secular sources, resulting in a number of albums that are perhaps more sacred in their intent than content. That's not to say that Birds & Cages isn't religious; like its title suggests, much of the album is concerned with freedom and restraint, both of which have spiritual implications. As far as the music goes, though, Birds has more in common with emo-pop and modern rock than most Christian albums, and the band often places as much emphasis on the instruments -- which are piled into big, lush-sounding blocks by producer Mark Lee Townsend -- as the message they help deliver. Wes Blaylock sings his face off throughout, wielding a voice that sounds a bit like Ben Gibbard with a stronger falsetto, and the rest of the band follows suit by playing atmospheric, textured rock songs with a level of passion that's almost, well, religious. Like Number One Gun's To the Secrets & Knowledge (which was released several weeks prior), this is a broad-minded album that finds a balance between the sacred and the secular. ~ Andrew Leahey