Your first clue might be the way the songs bleed into one another. Leigh's disarming 21-year-old voice floats and hovers over Matt's articulate, emotive guitar and string arrangements, ascending and descending like an uncertain angel on Jacob's ladder. Suddenly, you realize that you're already listening to the third song on the album, unaware that the first two had ever ended. It's okay. Relax. That's how it's meant to be.
"This project is like a part of our lives pulled up, roots and all," says Matt Slocum, the principal songwriter for Sixpence None the Richer. "It's not a scattered collection of unrelated songs. It's all one story, a whole story, a journey... We wanted to give listeners some sense of that by overlapping the first few songs."
"I've never been able to distance myself from our other projects and listen to them objectively," adds Leigh Nash, the bandİs endearing vocalist. "But somehow I've found myself doing that with this one. Each song just paints such great pictures. For me it's really a combination of the mood of the music and the poetry of Matt's lyrics."
Born from the musically fertile soil of Austin, Texas, Sixpence None the Richer recorded two critically acclaimed albums for a small independent label and toured with bands as diverse as 10,000 Maniacs and The Smithereens. While their debut, THE FATHERLESS AND THE WIDOW, had landed a Billboard Criticİs Choice as one of the Ten Best Albums of the Year, musicİs leading trade publication embraced their second offering, THIS BEAUTIFUL MESS, with equal enthusiasm noting, "...the heart of Sixpence remains songwriter/guitarist Matt Slocum's literate, pensive songs and lead vocalist Leigh (Nash's) ethereal delivery. Her voice invites comparisons to Edie Brickell and Natalie Merchant, but she distinguishes herself with an edge of soulful passion..." On the heels of THIS BEAUTIFUL MESS, Sixpence None the Richer found themselves cast into an unexpected and frustrating artistic limbo. When their label collapsed financially, an outside company quickly claimed ownership of Sixpenceİs contract, and a lengthy *David and Goliathİ struggle ensued. Meanwhile, THIS BEAUTIFUL MESS was making its own inroads, increasing the band's loyal fan base, racking up accolades, and selling over 60,000 units. Through heavy touring Sixpence continued to boost their sales figures and cement their reputation as a compelling live act. Such successes were bittersweet, overshadowed by an ongoing sense of paralysis, until the band was at last freed to sign with a new label.
SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER is the self-titled, flagship release for the new Squint Entertainment label. Finding an innovative ally in producer Steve Taylor, Sixpence None the Richer entered the studio and began to creatively build upon their guitar, bass and drum foundation. As they experimented with more subtle and intricate texturing, the band added new elements such as acoustic piano, muted trumpet, accordion, pedal steel guitar, cello and other string arrangements. (In addition to performing all of the guitar parts, Matt arranged the album's string section and played cello.) "This album is much more difficult to categorize," reflects drummer Dale Baker. "To call it 'alternative rock' or 'modern pop' might marginalize it."
Initial mixes of the new Sixpence material were sent to world-renowned engineer Bob Clearmountain. After hearing the project Clearmountain immediately called Taylor at home, anxious to mix the album's emphasis tracks. "My assistant and I were skimming through a large stack of recently collected tapes," recalls Clearmountain. "The minute the Sixpence album started we just looked up and stared at each other. This band's work is exceptional, and I'm really glad to be a part of it. I love Leigh Nash's voice--she's become one of my favorite female singers." The progression of songs on this new Sixpence None the Richer album unfold in a linear fashion, revealing in a literate manner the journey from despair and frustration to patience, renewed commitment and rebirth. The songs express human experience and emotion without becoming mired in the specifics of one person's particular problems. SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER opens with an interconnected trilogy of songs that set the stage for the remainder of the album's 12 cuts: "We Have Forgotten" is a reflection on dreams deferred so long that they became painful, while "Anything" and "The Waiting Room" give voice to an inner yearning for direction.
"Kiss Me," the album's first single, is a striking pop gem which celebrates the whimsical spirit of romance, while, "I Can't Catch You" reflects the insecurities of such intimacy. "Sister, Mother," inspired by a Biblical passage in the book of Proverbs, begins in confusion and ends in the pursuit of wisdom. "Love," the album's critical peak, counts the cost of denying personal selfishness and begs for change. Finally, "Moving On," contrasting and balancing the album's opener, closes SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER with a wide-eyed summation of a difficult journey, placing all in the context of a rooted faith and an eternal hope.
"We've been given a lot of freedom to dream and create," concludes Matt. "It's something that we probably would have taken for granted a few years back, but it means so much more when you've had to struggle and pray and wait for it. SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER is the project we've been hungry to make for a long time."
