The City Harmonic - We Are (2015)

The City Harmonic has become known as one of the few links between the truly alternative and the truly mainstream strands of worship music, sounding familiar enough to capture the hearts of both while also bringing a unique piano-based touch to their music. When they announced a new project for this fall, I was so excited to listen to it. This is one of my favorite bands in all of Christian music because they are so easy to listen to and become swept up into the music, even if it isn't the most inventive thing in the world.

However, I've got some bad news: The City Harmonic's new album We Are is a definite regress for the band.

With We Are, the band tries to turn every song into a big anthem, and it just doesn't work. It feels like they tried to give every single track power and instead took the whole album's power away. Granted, the opening track "We Are One" works as a big, bombastic anthem, but that's because it opens the album. The anthem format becomes very much a nuisance by the end of the album, causing the entirety of We Are to be marred.

That being said, there are still several good tracks here. Following "We Are One" comes the album's second biggest song, "Maranatha." This is a prime example of what the City Harmonic is good at: making worship anthems that can be both artistic and singable at the same time. Their entire first album was composed of songs very similar to "Maranatha," and it worked.

Unfortunately, most of We Are doesn't feel as sincere as I Have a Dream, their debut. The next five tracks after "Maranatha" are all forgettable anthems because they fail to sound different from one another. They may vary in dynamics slightly, with "Shout!" being the most bombastic and "Let There Be Light" being the most mellow; however, they all have very similar anthemic choruses. These tracks are not bad: they're just not that good and are all skippable.

The album's first truly mellow moment is the eighth track "Oh What Love." Most of the song is primarily piano, with the anthemic feel not coming into the song until two and a half minutes in. It is followed by We Are's best track, "Confession." It is a beautiful song of confession with a chorus centered around the Agnus Dei, a portion of church liturgy involving us crying out to God for forgiveness from our sins. The verses of this song are easily the best lyrical moments on the entire album, while the chorus and bridge have a certain longing and yearning to them that makes them unforgettable.

The album's last two tracks, "Still and Small" and "One," are both much smaller and intimate than the rest of the album. The former is led by just an acoustic guitar and at times a subtle ambient synth, with some beautiful harmonies integrated into the verses. The latter is led by piano with the rest of the band not entering until later in the song. It emphasizes the album's theme of unity in the church by comparing it to the unity of the Trinity. It is perfectly placed as the album's closer and is one of the best songs on the album.

Overall, We Are is a bit of a disappointment for me as a fan of the City Harmonic's earlier work. It feels as if they've lost a bit of their sincerity and artistic touch that was present in their previous two albums; however, those looking for some anthemic worship music that you can sing along with will be right at home with We Are. There's enough redeeming moments here for fans of the band to feel satisfied; however, casual listeners should just stick with buying a few tracks.

My rating: 3.5/5

Recommended tracks: "Maranatha," "Confession," "One"

Purchase links: iTunes, Google Play, Amazon MP3