The Gray Haven’s first full length album, “Fire and Stone”, was released on January 6, 2015.
What makes this record both impressive and intriguing is its ability to create and explore a deeply relatable, fiction world. Each song in some way begins and carries a narrative, a creative nod to the literary interests of Dave and Licia Radford.
The album’s instrumentation and style is diverse throughout, but what can’t be denied is the substance of the material; how even in a rolling, melodic track like “Stole My Fame (To: Grace)”, there is still a weightiness to the message. Clear Christian themes resonate throughout, especially is such instantly gripping tracks as “The Stone” and the powerful “Sirens”.
Dave Radford’s voice, while not extensively showcased in range, is the powerful adhesive that holds this diverse project together. Its clarity and strength throughout provide a strong center for the musical atmosphere to constantly twirl and shift around.
There is also a childish wit that permeates the album, bridging the gap between the allegorical depth of “Inheritance” and the nursery-rhyme-name-dropping of “Jack and Jill, pt. 2”. The various extended metaphors and images prevent any line from feeling stale, and bring the kind of fresh, new perspective you love and appreciate from those who still manage to find wonder in the world around them.
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This is not an album you experience once and then just repeat to relive it. It is an assortment of narratives you revisit and relearn as you more completely understand how the pieces fit in the whole or start from the top and admire each brick on the way down
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For more information on Fire and Stone and The Gray Havens, visit them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or their website. And you buy Fire on Stone on iTunes or Bandcamp!!
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