The Glen Soderholm I’ve been waiting for

By D.S. Martin and ChristianWeek | August 15, 2009

Now this is the Glen Soderholm CD I've been waiting for! His recent recordings show musical sensitivity and skill, but This Bright Sadness also highlights Soderholm's strengths, both musically and lyrically as a songwriter. I thoroughly enjoy his CD Rest, but since it is a worship album, it has the artistic limitations of that narrow genre.

His recent hymns project, World Without End, narrowed things further, since half its songs weren't originals.

This time there's a different approach; here he's more in the role of a singer-songwriter than of a worship leader. As it says in Ecclesiastes, "To everything there is a season...A time to weep and a time to laugh..." This collection is designed to accompany us during our times of sorrow. Because these songs are always reaching toward hope, This Bright Sadness is able to glisten in that twilight.

Soderholm has schooled himself in the folk, blues and country song structures that underpin much of our finest music. Perhaps it's partly the arrangements, but many of these songs remind me of other songs from a variety of sources. "It's Promising Rain" has much in common with "Rock Salt and Nails," particularly the 2001 version by Buddy and Julie Miller.

The title track with it's mandolin reminds me, both by its bluegrass arrangement and its melody line, of T Bone Burnett's "Shut It Tight," and "Always Your Love That Reminds Me" echoes (for me) the Scottish tune "Sweet Ashton."

I'd be surprised, though, if Soderholm himself would acknowledge all of these connections. What I'm saying is that he has internalized a lot of what he's heard, and delivers it to us anew.

A quiet spirituality underlies the mood of this album, which is more subtly Christian than his recent projects. Following his Dylanesque verses on "Out of Nothing" comes the gentle refrain: "And once, long, long ago / From the chaos and void came a light / Something so good, something so true, something so right."

It's the hope amid hopelessness, the reprieve from sadness, that comes through here again and again. In one beautiful love song he sings: "You make me laugh when the hour is grim / And you hold things together when the world caves in / And these are not things you can lose or win / It's surely your love that reminds me."

Another gem here is "Seamstress," told from the perspective of a woman who diligently works in a third-world sweatshop to produce something for rich children to receive on Christmas morning. It's up to us as listeners to sense the injustice, for she seems satisfied by the contribution she is making.

The songs a singer chooses to cover say as much about his ability to discern good writing as the songs he writes himself. The only two covers on This Bright Sadness come from two excellent songwriters: Julie Miller's "By Way of Sorrow" from her album Blue Pony; and "Everything is Broken," by Bob Dylan from Oh Mercy. Both fit well into the theme. Soderholm follows Dylan's original lyrics rather than the newly-released alternate version from Tell Tale Signs. Soderholm and producer Roy Salmond make these pieces blend well with the original songs.

The dominant sound throughout the CD features acoustic guitar and Soderholm's smooth voice, with and without drums. Other flavours surface on different tracks, such as lap steel on "By Way of Sorrow," or organ trills on "It's Promising Rain." Even when electric guitar is used, it merely augments the acoustic; similarly, harmony vocals are used sparingly for an intimate, bare bones sound.

This Bright Sadness is a rich album, lyrically and musically—creating a place for reflection, whether you're in a time where your focus is sadness or whether you're considering your blessings.