ALBUM REVIEW: Brave Enough
One of my favorite musicians at the moment is Lindsey Stirling. If you haven't heard of her, you need to listen to her stuff now. RIGHT NOW. She is a self-described "classically trained violinist gone rogue", meaning she plays violin to a dubstep/electronic backing track. Electronic violin. It sounds weird, and it is, but once you've listened to her you will understand. She is so talented and so ADDICTING.
Her album Brave Enough is the one I'm reviewing. This is her most recent - 2015 - and tends to sound a little more like mainstream music than her previous two efforts. The biggest reason for this is that on Brave Enough, she has 14 tracks, 8 of them with guest vocalists. The other albums have had about eleven each, and out of those 22 or so, two have vocals. She really does have something for everyone, so if you're big into electronic music, check out her earlier albums, Lindsey Stirling and Shatter Me. Brave Enough is my absolute favorite album right now, and hopefully you'll see why as I go into it.
On to a track by track review of this album!
Track 1: Lost Girls
This is an instrumental song, and just heartbreaking. Lindsey's voice sings in the background, "Lost girls find a way", and you realize just how soul-baring this album will end up being.
Track 2: Brave Enough (feat. Christina Perri)
This album came about when Stirling lost her keyboardist/best friend Jason Gaviati (who went by Gavi) to cancer. She states that Gavi was the most loving person she knew, and in this song she states her wish for the courage to love as much as he did. Christina Perri's vocals are vulnerable, but still strong at the same time, and it's heartbreaking.
Track 3: The Arena
This song is entirely instrumental and ridiculously good. I probably listen to tis track more than any other on the album. It's empowering, and beautiful, and there is so much emotion and strength involved that I can't breathe.
Track 4: The Phoenix
This song is also instrumental, like "The Arena". It's not as good, but is still a powerful song that puts into music the idea of rising from the ashes. This one hearkens back to Lindsey's electronic roots, so if you like her earlier albums for the electronic/dubstep feel, this may be one of your favorite songs on this album.
Track 5: Where Do We Go (feat. Carah Faye)
The best songs on this album are the ones that deal with grief, loss, and recovering from that. Where Do We Go is one that attempts to put the emotion that loss creates into words and music. And in my opinion, it does pretty well.
Track 6: Those Days (feat. Dan + Shay)
This song is absolutely beautiful. We can all relate to that feeling of losing a friend - whether it's by moving or death or something else - and only wanting to think about the good parts of the friendship, but getting stuck on the missing and longing. I think that this is my third favorite on this album.
Track 7: Prism
This is another instrumental, and it's one of my least favorites on the album. Maybe it sounds too different from the norm for Lindsey. You may like it, but I usually end up skipping this one.
Track 8: Hold My Heart (feat. ZZ Ward)
Some of my friends have complained of this song having feminist themes, and I can see where they get that. But this is a song that I think is mostly about being strong, and independent, but still needing love. No matter how strong you are, you still need love.
Track 9: Mirage (feat. Raja Kumani)
I don't love this song either. It's not bad, just not my style - it has a very Eastern feel to it with a lot of Arabic sounding themes. However, Lindsey does get to show off her ridiculous talent and ability to do whatever she feels like with the violin, so I'll listen to it occasionally.
Track 10: Don't Let This Feeling Fade (feat. Rivers Cuomo and LeCrae)
This song features Lecrae - rapping - which is very strange for a Lindsey Stirling album. This song isn't the strongest - most of the time you can't even hear the violin - but it's still fine.
Track 11: First Light
This is an instrumental that sounds very much like an older Lindsey song, but more lyrical than electronic. It's a soft, gentle song, which is rare for Lindsey, and I'd love to have this one as my wake-up alarm (the pun is in the title.)
Track 12: Love's Just a Feeling (feat. Rooty)
There is a music video for this song which is absolutely beautiful. The title of this song is a little problematic. As Christians, we know that love is more than just a feeling. It's action and grit and dirt under your fingernails. However, Rooty has a wonderful voice, and the music video for this song, which I could not find when searching YouTube a moment ago, makes the song worth it, because you can see the story behind it. I very much like this song.
Track 13: Something Wild (feat. Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness)
This song is all about living life to the fullest, which I think is a good message for Christians: you don't know how long you have, so fight to make the days count and leave a legacy behind for God.
Track 14: Gavi's Song
The grand finale of the album is an instrumental piece that attempts to put into music Lindsey's feelings about Gavi's death. And it is absolutely gorgeously, breathtakingly heartbreaking. This is a very acoustic song for Lindsey - consisting only of a violin and the keyboard - and is her tribute to Gavi, who I think helped to write it. The song is a sweeping, epic masterpiece, and is so perfect that it makes me cry just to think about it.
SOOOOOO.........
Sorry about the length of this post, everybody! But now you have my first full album review of my favorite CD in the world right now! I hope that I've interested you in Lindsey and also that my review does her justice... Her music is truly art!
~Faith
5 comments
I love Lindsey! My favorite song is probably Spontaneous. And there is nothing wrong with a long post!!! Most of my posts are forever long!!! xD
ReplyDeleteI like Spontaneous Me also. I haven't listened to the original album that much since my sister just bought it a week ago or so, (bless you, my sister XD) but it's all so good. Lindsey is the greatest.
DeleteShe is! I love listening to her when I write!!!
ReplyDeleteLINDSEY STIRLING IS SO GOOD. When I saw that you had reviewed her latest album, I lowkey did a little victory dance inside my head.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite song is Mirage or Something Wild. :)
Yayayayayay! I'm so glad I've found other people who like Lindsey.
DeleteMirage is growing on me. The violin is probably the most ambitious in the album, and it's really impressive. Really, really impressive.
And I love Something Wild <3
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