A few months ago, I had the good fortune of finding out about a concert by a "long lost" favorite singer who my wife and I had enjoyed, but who hadn't put out an album in about five years. I arranged to take her as a surprise, a gift to top off a weekend of relaxation after a hectic move to a new apartment the previous week. And best of all, the concert was free. Sure, that meant we had to sit through the cheesy worship band that belonged to the church hosting the event, as well as commercial pitches for the sponsors who put on the event. But it was worth the time spent and the drive out there. After all, this was Michelle Tumes - a sentimental favorite artist who we had become fans of long before meeting each other, but whose albums (her first two, anyway) had become romantic favorites to listen to on long, lazy drives during weekend exactly like this one. Her silvery, classy vocals and the exuberant, luxurious sense of joy that permeated her lyrics made it easy to fall in love with pretty much everything she did.

Well, except for Dream. You see, up until her ill-advised 2001 album, which found her aping teen pop trends that were hot at the time, Michelle was the rare Christian musician who successfully straddled the fence between "adult contemporary" and "artistic". She had a generally mellow and relaxing tone, but filled her songs with a slightly exotic instrumental touch, building off of piano and including lush strings and vaguely Celtic elements. Enya was a heavy influence, and that's not to say that she sounded like "the Christian version of Enya" (if that's what you're looking for, I guess you could give Enya's sister Moya Brennan a try), but there was no denying the vocal inflections and snippets of foreign language in some of this Aussie singer's recordings. Enya was clearly Ms. Tumes' muse. At the same time, she knew how to buck expectations every now and then and crank out a fun, let-down-your-hair-type tune like "Do Ya" (later popularized by - and it kills me to say this - the tween pop group Jump5). She knew "ethereal" well, but didn't want to be solely confined to such terms. It's unfortunate that the need to defy expectations led her in the teenybopper pop direction (her voice has a sweet intensity better suited for more grown-up forms of "fun" music when she does the upbeat thing) - as much as I thought Dream was the unfortunate result of a record label pressuring her to fit in, it turns out that she's admitted it to be her own doing, and she sticks by it. Still, the proof's in the pudding - her recent concert was full of favorites from her classic first album, Listen, as well as a few offerings from the respectable follow-up Center of My Universe and a few of her new tunes - Dream was ignored, and you can go read my review of that one to see why it's best forgotten.

It was at that concert that we were given the opportunity to pre-order Michelle's new, independently produced, self-titled album. Much to my surprise, she already had demo copies of the album to give away as a bonus to those who pre-ordered, which contained all of the tracks from the upcoming album, just in a different order and unmastered. We met her and spoke with her briefly; my wife just had to give away the fact that I did the music critic thing as a hobby, and Michelle graciously pleaded with me (in her charming Aussie accent) to not review the album until I got the final copy. Fair enough - I've reviewed early downloads of albums before, only to find out they changed something significant in the final versions of a few songs. But this gave me nearly two months to get used to the basic elements of the new songs, pick favorites and all that. I knew before the final copy arrived on November 14th that it would be a positive review - possibly her second best album after Listen. It was clear from the first notes of the album that Michelle had recognized where her experimentation with other styles wasn't necessarily growth - it took away many of the unique elements of her sound. Now she was taking the classicist approach, bringing back those warm memories of her first album, but still showing the willingness to throw a few curveballs. That's the side of Michelle that I'm glad to have back again.

I know it can be burdensome for an artist when their first album is a hit and all attempts to build on its success turn out to be less popular (this album will probably continue that trend, but only because it's indie, not because it's a bad album), subtly communicating to the artist that all people want from her is what they've already heard. But Michelle thankfully isn't content to just bring back the Enya-isms and leave it at that. She plays with the upbeat pop sounds in (mostly) more mature and interesting ways here; her piano playing shines through in the mix a little more (due to the album not being as heavily sequenced as much of Listen was), and most importantly, she gets to arrange and conduct the strings this time around (which are played masterfully by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra). Some artists throw in strings just to jerk tears, and don't care if the effect is a generic one. On some of this album's tracks, you can picture Michelle furiously waving her arms and her little wand - down-in-out-up! - and getting the string section worked into a delightful little frenzy. There's nothing atonal or overly bizarre about this record - just beautiful music with some simpler pop tunes thrown in. But it's got an enduring quality that Dream just didn't have, so as I listen to this record, I get this feeling like I want to throw my arms around her and shout, "Welcome back, Michelle!"

Introit
There's a table laid for all who hunger
There's a feast for every soul in need
There's a sacred place for all who wander
There's a Saviour in the barren land of thieves...
The first of three songs with Latin titles serves as an invocation, and the strokes of cello and layered vocalizations at the very beginning (which may be Latin, but they're not transcribed in the lyric booklet, so heck if I know) are an immediate hint that this album's going to have much more class than Dream did. This song expresses praise and gratitude in the form of opposites, as Michelle proclaims in the chorus, "He's the fire in the winter, He's the light that shines on shades of gray". The sentiments are simple and yet poetic, made sweeter by the way Michelle's voice glides from one note to the next here and there, like at the end of the word "winter". When I didn't know the song titles due to just having an unlabeled CD-R prerelease with Michelle's signature on it, I assumed the title of this song was "Jewel of All My Days", which is the name for God that she comes up with at the end of the chorus. That title would actually work well, since the layers of multi-tracked vocals and strings provide the song with many shimmering facets to behold.

Domine
I tried to wade so high above reality
I crashed into the lies of calamity...
The second song, whose title means "Lord God" in Latin, is the likely "single" from the album if one had to be chosen - it's up tempo in much the same way that previous hits "Deep Love" and "Heaven's Heart" were, but there's a bit of an electronic thump and some other shiny digital effects in there, giving it a feel much like the first album's "My Constant One", but with more intensity. That she can pull off a programmed pop sound without sounding like a wannabe teenybopper is an accomplishment - she clearly wants to snag you with a swiftly moving hook, but she doesn't have to resort to a bump-and-grind beat or cheesy keyboard hits to pull it off. There's a sense of desperate need in this song, and Michelle puts a little more force behind her voice as the lyrics fly by rather quickly, calming down briefly for a lush, peaceful bridge before the mighty river of strings and drums comes rushing back in with the final chorus. The only thing I'd complain about here is Michelle's over-reliance on the word "Domine" and all of the rhymes that go along with it - the chorus feels a bit awkward because there are so many "-ay" sounds hitting you over the head. Still, it's a solid song that could make a decent comeback for Michelle if CCM radio would bother with anything on an indie label.

Let It Rain
Searching, above the clouds, You're all I see
Endless, tapestry of streams dancing
Around me, starlight in shimmering waves
I feel rain...
With a lilting "La la, la la, la, la", Michelle introduces a pretty little song in 3/4 time - I can't recall her ever trying something other than 4/4, except for "God of My Hope" (which is on that infernal album that I refuse to ever listen to again). This song has a glorious flow to it, comparing God to a gentle spring shower. Again, there are a lot of layers due to the strings and Michelle backing herself up during the chorus - however, I have a pretty good feeling that, much like the title track from Listen, the song would sound equally beautiful in concert with just Michelle and a grand piano. There's a brief interlude where Michelle is all by her lonesome with the piano and no vocal overdubbing, teasing at a few lines of the chorus, and it makes it clear to me that the song could fit comfortably into as big or small of a space as need be.

Fair Weather
You'll be here when the leaves fall down
When colours fade on the old playground
And the mist makes it so hard to remember...
This is the one that really blew me away. As big and dramatic as some of Michelle's choruses can get, there's no preparing you for what happens when the gentle but ominous tinkling of piano in this song's verses gives way to the crashing drums and the maelstrom of strings that bring the chorus in like a devastating tsunami of sound. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating as to how big it is if you're actually listening to the album, but in concert, this thing was killer - it's Michelle's stab at a big old rock ballad, without the prominent electric guitar (there may be one, but the strings and drums are by far the most noticeable elements). This sound is appropriate for a song which discusses the storms of life and observes how the Christian life has its changing seasons, its times when faith is hard to come by and friends suddenly can't do squat for you. Michelle leans on one constant thought in the midst of this crisis: "You are never fair weather" - referring, of course, to the notion of a "fair-weather friend" who slinks away when it might actually take some effort for them to help you through tough times. Interestingly, this is the one track on the album that has changed noticeably between the pre-release and the final version. Some sort of watery chiming sounds have been added to the force, which gives the water a bit more of a "ripple" to signal the beginning of the downpour before the chorus - a welcome addition. The whole thing just seems to hit harder, too. I might have to ding her slightly for the use of rain as a negative metaphor when she just used it in the previous song as a positive one (it's one of my pet peeves with Christian music in general, how both rain and fire become the low-hanging fruit in terms of obvious metaphors for both healing and pain), but I can't dwell on that for too long, because this is still one of the most awesome songs that she's ever done, up there with the best of the best from Listen.

Far
I tried to fight, but I'm my opponent
I'm dying to tell You
I stole the words that were unspoken
I'm lying to tell You...
Here's where she really started screwing with the track order - this one was track 10 on the pre-release and now it's track 5. It works here, as more of a calm ballad to serve as the comedown from "Fair Weather". Much of it is just Michelle's voice and a lighter, sunnier piano part. It's a song of confession, about how Michelle not only falls short of doing the right thing, but often misses the point of virtuous behavior completely - "I caught the train without a token" and other choice lines indicate an awareness of her own depravity. She sounds so peaceful about it, but it's refreshing to hear sin described in this more accurate way - it's not just that she fell a little bit short and needs some little push from God to get her back in the right again, it's that she completely screwed up and is totally desperate. "I feel so far", is how she simply puts it at the end of the chorus. The song has a brief shot of intensity during the bridge, which suddenly closes up the distant provided by the quietness of the rest of the song as she sings of God coming close to rescue her when she could not get anywhere near God on her own. Still, the song ends up with the meek Icharus analogy that started it - "I tried to fly, but my wings were broken. I'm dying to reach You."

Gypsy Heart
This forest, emerald green, my refuge in its canopy
When evening falls, the stars won't shine through
One problem with changing the track order around from what I had previously been used to is that the project might be front-loaded with one too many ballads. It depends on your definition - Listen was almost all ballads and it's her best work. We'll look past that - the mood stays mellow, but Michelle's come up with one of her more intriguing marriages of a good lyrical analogy and a musical mood, as a slow, wandering piano melody puts Michelle out on the open road as she tells a story of a wayfaring traveler, an outcast from society, a person who has no home and can only rely on a gaudy song and dance to make a living. I rather like the analogy of a lost heart being like a gypsy, even though Jars of Clay's use of the word in "The Valley Song" a few years back apparently stirred up a bit of an argument among fans who were predisposed to witch hunts. I think it's exactly that - the connotation of a "gypsy" being someone who is more of a mystic, perhaps wandering about for a sense of spiritual identity, makes a lot of sense here. Michelle hits some beautiful high notes in the chorus, and manages to pull off a wonderful "one woman choir" effect - something you might expect from a less pessimistic version of Evanescence, perhaps - during the bridge where her cries rise further toward the heavens on each urgent syllable provided by the background vocals. I love how so many of her songs on this album have that "sneak attack" method going for them.

Lovely Day
I've got a pocket full of hope to hold
I've got a remedy to lift that load...
Well, I guess there had to be an insipid pop song in there somewhere. Apologies to Michelle in advance for this one, but I'm not quite sure I'm following how hearing your mum say "It's a lovely day" makes it so. Overly cheery songs like this don't tend to do much for me unless some sort of an attempt is made to communicate a reason for cheering up. The bouncy drums and piano provide an immediate change in mood, and an upbeat song isn't unwelcome at this point - it's just that she's done upbeat without having to resort to such cliches as "It's a la-la-la-lovely day". (I'll admit that this method of drawing out a word does sound quite nice during one of the verses when she enunciates "holiday" as "ha-la-la-holiday".) I could set all of that silliness aside - after all, I loved "Do Ya" - but there's an even more pressing problem at hand: the verse melody. It's most apparent when she delivers the line "You can say, you can say" in the second verse - the tune and the inflection of the words is too close to the familiar "We can sail, we can sail" from Enya's most massively popular song, "Orinoco Flow". It's one thing to be reminiscent of your musical heroes and another to just rip off a melody from one of them, so I'm hoping this is an accident. I will say that the bridge of this song is quite nice, with its quivering strings, and it's nice to hear Michelle's piano accompaniment translate to more of a poppy setting, but on most days there's too much cheese and subconscious plagiarism here for me to easily handle.

Break Through
Hope, the banner in the anguish
Writing words of faith
Erasing thoughts of a darkened soul...
Here we have another gentle ballad that gives Michelle a bit of a chance to show off her vocal "glide" - it's hard to explain, but she has this effortless way of slipping from one note to another, sometimes mid-syllable, that is quite lovely without going into the showy melismatics of your Celine Dion types. (I so totally just made up that word.) It has the side effect of making her words blur together here and there, but not to the point where it obscures the meaning of the song. The language here is very medieval, talking of moors and towers and banquets as Michelle sings of the sheer force with which God is willing to fight for a soul He loves. It's all very "knight in shining armor"-ish, and for some it's going to feel like reading a young girl's diary, but the analogy is handled tastefully, and the writers of the Bible did use language like this at times, so as much as I complain about the over-use of fairy tale metaphors for God's love, I think it's well-placed here.

Yearning
You catch the starlight in Your hands
Seal my heart with golden strands
You give me everything You have
I'm burning...
Now this is how you do upbeat pop music and put your own quirky stamp on it. I wouldn't normally describe Michelle as "quirky", but this is about the strangest song she's ever done. And it's another one of my favorites. The quick, busy stabbing of strings and the hurried tempo make it feel like Michelle took one of her usual richly flavored ballads and decided to perform it at a much faster speed. Who knows, maybe she drank about four Mountain Dews before conducting the string section that day. The average person would certainly run out of breath trying to sing along to the verses, which fly by quick enough that it takes a few listen to get the gist of the lyrics. The chorus is similarly difficult to understand on the first past, but it's got one of the album's strongest hooks as its words swirl together, the melody weaving up and down and up even higher and then back to where it started. It's a zippy little symphonic pop masterpiece, peppered with phrases like "golden strands" and "a ring around my circumstance" and "through this book of days". This is how an established artist known for making mellow, beautiful music should go about it when she gets the urge to play around with peppy pop tunes. I'd be singing a much different tune about Dream if she had thought to try stuff like this five years ago.

Caelum Infinitum
Like ribbons that dance in a summer fair
I'm overjoyed, O Scared Head
You shower the roads where angels tread
The blessings of Heaven, seers foretold...
The final Latin-titled song was originally positioned as the last track on the album, and I thought it made a fine finale, so I was a bit baffled that it got shifted back to the penultimate slot. It's still just as beautiful in any place it could have ended up, with its heavenly brushstrokes from the stringed instruments leading things off, and then a magical piano melody trickling in to accompany it. This is a song that really transports the listener, due to its combination of fantasy and liturgy - some of these lyrics would work well in an Eisley song due to their imaginative, otherworldly nature. Of course, Eisley doesn't write soaring Latin chants for their choruses, and I don't think many singers alive could match the gorgeous sense of joy that Michelle inspires when her highest of high notes bursts forth toward Heaven. Something about the texture of those two words (pronounced "CHAY-loom in-FIN-i-toom", and meaning "boundless heaven") is striking even if you have no clue what it means. I actually have no clue what the vocal syllables at the end of the chorus, which brings the song back down for the second verse, actually mean, since once again - No transcription in the lyric sheet! Aargh! It's lovely, but I can't sing along without sounding totally silly. I do feel that the song ends too soon, after only two verses and two choruses - it really needs to sprawl out to more of a leisurely length, and have a bridge or a final verse, something to make it really stay with you. But it still would have served as a beautiful finale, if not for...

Hold onto Jesus
And as time goes by
The tick of the clock is not enough for me
And as time goes by
I'll give Jesus my allegiance...
Michelle's earnest desire to be a teenager once again comes back around in this, a simple ballad that once served as a reflective pause in the middle of the album, and now seems like too quiet of a way to finish it off. She wrote these lyrics when she was 17, and set them to a fairly basic piano melody, and due to the vocal performance it's still easy to get the soothing melody caught in one's head, but honestly, these words don't belong on a Michelle Tumes album - not next to the more descriptive and imaginative prayers she's uttered in nearly every other song. This is the type of thing you write when you've been away at youth camp for a weekend and you're really psyched and you just want to simply say that you've signed up for this Jesus thing now and forever, whatever hardships come your way. Nothing bad about wanting to express that sentiment, but sometimes we scribble down hurried cliches that lack real thought in terms of how to communicate such sentiments artistically and personally. Hey, when I was 17 I wrote stuff that wasn't much deeper than "You've got to hold onto Jesus when Your life has had enough". The thoughts behind the words are still true, but now I cringe at the wording, and I'd certainly have the good sense to filter stuff like that out if picking my best 11 songs to put on an album, instead of letting sentimentality convince me to let this one slide. The song sticks out more due to its placement at the end than it did in the middle, since this is probably the thought Michelle wanted to leave us with. I think the one-two-three punch of "Yearning", "Far", and "Caelum Infinitum" made for a much more divine and lasting impression at the record's end. This song isn't terrible, but it definitely sounds like it's still a demo track in the shadow of fully thought-out and fully-produced giants.

Funny that I'd get so attached to the order of a pre-release and then have trouble adjusting to the final version, eh? Obviously the mastered version's still better, if for no other reason than the beefed up "Fair Weather". In any case, it's a more consistent album than Center of My Universe, which already has a number of good songs but is just a bit too short, and I think anyone who enjoyed Listen will be able to fall in love with many of these songs. Go track it down; it's sure to become a sentimental favorite, useful for spiritual quiet times and long, lazy romantic drives into the sunset.

(Just for those who are curious, the original order was: 1. Introit 2. Domine 3. Fair Weather 4. Let It Rain 5. Lovely Day 6. Break Through 7. Hold onto Jesus 8. Gypsy Heart 9. Yearning 10. Far 11. Caelum Infinitum)

ALBUM WORTH:
Introit $1
Domine $1
Let It Rain $1.50
Fair Weather $2
Far $1
Gypsy Heart $1.50
Lovely Day $.50
Break Through $1
Yearning $1.50
Caelum Infinitum $1.50
Hold onto Jesus $.50
TOTAL: $14

Websites:
http://www.michelletumes.com
http://www.myspace.com/michelletumes

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Romancing