Music Recommendation: Ascend The Hill

I won't always wax theological and philosophical, but I will say that the majority, or at least a major plurality, of popular Christian music leaves much to be desired. Whether it is the over-produced pop-music machine filling the airwaves with stale indie-glam worship numbers, or the psuedo-Christian alternative rock scene rushing in to pick up the pieces left in the wake of MTV and radio bygones, I have developed a skeptic ear for CCM and CCW bands and their questionable industry motivations.

That's not to speak judgement on the artists themselves, but you have to wonder how many different eras of music will be regurgitated by bands that ultimately sing the same songs and play the same chord progressions and change the instruments. Pop music will sell. Pop music is safe. Pop music is easy. It's pleasing to the ear in the sense that it is familiar and there is certain comfort in that. In other words, pop music is boring.

Enter Ascend The Hill.

About the time I came out of the closet as a five-point Calvinist (which has nothing to do with listening to hymns), I started going to a church in Roseville, CA. I was introduced to a number of good and interesting bands that do weird things like play hymns to the sound and noise of something you'd expect from an anthemic post rock band. After the nightmares of occasionally sitting in church with one hymnal to every other chair, struggling to sing along with songs I had never heard and had no comprehensive understanding of the words to, I was almost done with hymns. Come Thou Fount was okay. And anything else Sufjan Stevens decided to play was worthy, but other than that, I had no desire to learn or sing to hymns. They were old, and stale, and boring. I completely ignored the rich theology and doctrine present in their verses. It was hard to sing when you don't know the meaning of the song.

Ascend The Hill changed that. I heard their rendition of How Great Thou Art and decided I needed to give them a try. Thankfully, they give out their music freely on their website http://ascendthehillband.com/music so I took advantage of it by first downloading their album Hymns: Take The World But Give Me Jesus.

I was pleasantly surprised by this spacious effort to breathe new life into old hymns. Suddenly I had an anchor with which to start wading into the world of hymnals and songs written by the hands of theologians. They were not boring. They were new. They were exciting. They were creative.

I often say that Christians were created by a creative God, and therefore should strive to worship creatively. I'm glad I can source and reference good music to back up that sentiment. Creativity reflects God. If secular music, which is lyrically decrepit and riddled with worldly emotions, still draws creativity from the soul and glorifies God through the creativity of the gift of music, why can't Christian bands seem to get it right? 

Ascend The Hill do a lot of things so wonderfully, so right through their music. Instead of sticking to industry-standard chord-progressions, instead of writing catchy pop-hooks, and talking about how "love will keep us together if we just love each other enough", they take a hymn, maintain most of the common melody throughout the song, and then craft from there using musical freedom.

I'd like to justify this by saying that my interest isn't so much in the "fashion" of the music and the genre, but in the "creativity" that they used to make an old song sound new. It's the same "then sings my soul" I've always heard in church, but the music behind it, the unorthodox quality of the sound they've created, reminds me that God gave people particular freedoms in worshiping him through song. Do not worry, indie folk post rocker alternative shoegaze anything-as-long-as-it-isn't-K-Love-or-on-the-radio-or-TBN Christian, there is a big feast for the ears even if you're losing hope in the mainline Christian music industry.

Ascend The Hill is signed with Come And Live (http://comeandlive.com/), an interesting "non-profit community dedicated to proclaiming the good news of Jesus." They give out a lot of good music for free. Ascend the Hill's latest album, O Ransomed Son is available for free download, and they also ask that if you feel led, to donate. You'll be supporting a good cause and spreading the gospel at the same time.

http://www.comeandlive.com/CLD/AscendTheHill-Son/

Here's my favorite song from O Ransomed Son:

And yes, that is the Dustin Kensrue of (secular band but who cares?) Thrice, and The Modern Post (Mars Hill Music) : http://marshill.com/music/artists/the-modern-post

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the distortion!

Nick