Album of the Year {2011}: Love & War & The Sea In Between by Josh Garrels

Posted by parkejladd on Nov 12, 2011 in Featured {Article}, Slider | 0 comments

This past summer my friend Lee sent an email updating Quinn and I on life in California. At the end of his email he left this note:

Listen to our friend’s wonderful expression of hope and leaning into God amidst adversity. These words have been an important expression for me during times when I have no expression to give – and I thank him for it.

Trusting my friend, and always looking for a reason to listen to new music, I immediately clicked on the link in his email and downloaded Love & War & The Sea In Between by Josh Garrels. Since then, I have listened to the album nearly 200 times. Garrels, I believe, has changed my life with his music. Never have I experienced such joy and pain moving together throughout an album. I do not say this lightly or to simply attempt attention for an artist. No, I say this because I believe in the sentiments and truths found in his music. Garrels’ lyrics and music place the inner trappings and longings of his heart on full display and so vividly mirror the desires of my own heart that I wonder if a part of who we are is similar in nature, stemming from the same heart. His music continuously touched deeper parts of my human capacity and spirituality and lightly pushed on my soul until it couldn’t stand to be challenged any longer. Love & War is an experience that warrants personal response, a journey into the depths of reality and humanity and our constant struggle between the known and unknown, the material and spiritual.