Joel Auge

Joel Auge is yet another pop songster looking to the world as his congregation. Playing up his “nice guy” charm and down-home stage presence (think Phil Wickham or Leeland Mooring), his debut album On the Blue is receiving quite the positive buzz, set to propel him to a place many artists work for years to achieve. The pre-release copy of this project claims that Mr. Auge’s music is laced with “art-rock” tendencies, a fact I was eager for him to back up. The Christian industry is depressingly short on experimental music (although I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this), from independent sources or otherwise, and I anticipated hearing a marriage of worship music (yes, it’s another praise album—big surprise there) and investigational production design.

The album opens with “So Deep in Love With You,” a composition which doesn’t exactly peddle the same tripe we’re used to hearing from the worship scene and sounds like one of Paul McCartney’s fragile love songs. That isn’t to say it’s high art, though. Acoustic strums and electronic pacing drive the opening and predictably build in the following verse/chorus/verse arrangement. So far, nothing special. Lyrically, however, Auge is onto something. He’s managed to figure out a way to convey worship without sounding like every other “premier worship leader” of this year. His inflections aren’t the same as most worship fare, while remaining accessible enough to be recycled for a worship service.

The downside to “So Deep” is prevalent throughout the rest of the album as well: the music. It isn’t terrible, but it’s not art-rock by any stretch of the imagination, and it doesn’t do his lyrics justice. The palette plays to the current fad of Coldplay & U2 wannabes, with straight-ahead 4/4 compositions and distorted guitars with just a hint of Edge-style delay. The ideas start off small, and then explode at their climax. The problem with this is that it doesn’t lend itself to unpredictability.

That isn’t to say that Auge hasn’t managed to secure his own approach amidst the flurry of faux-epic worship artists. No, in fact On the Blue makes great promises for the future. And if Auge can develop his admittedly derivative sound with the same force of will that Phil Wickham has, he might very well be remembered as one of the best in his genre. His voice isn’t quite as raspy as Wickham’s, nor is it as reminiscent of Jeff Buckley as one review claimed. Nevertheless, he croons with the best of the best throughout this project.

“Singing Hallelujah” is one of the strongest tracks on the whole album, a ballad of sorts that does build like the rest of these pieces, but thankfully holds back on the delayed guitar riffs and crashing cymbals. It wraps up coyly, with a warm ambience and folksy finish. Make no mistake; Auge can craft a fantastic song around an engaging hook. His best work doesn’t hold pretensions of “greatness,” a presupposed epic nature. Simplicity is his strength.

“Call On Me” is yet another ballad, but this time laced in synths and a toned down Brit-rock sound. It isn’t perfect (the momentum loses its way after the first couple minutes), but for a debut album it’s outstanding.

Auge isn’t the Second Coming of worship. But no doubt about it, his name is going to be all over the place soon enough. His approach is neither revolutionary, nor completely botched. It rests somewhere in between, a contented place of charm and poise and heartfelt praise.

↓ One comment

#1 Darcy on July 17th, 2008 at 7:39 pm

I really like joel auges music and i think he will go really far.

[edited: sorry, no unjustified links]

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