Bifrost Arts - Salvation Is Created (A Christmas Album)

“Often triggered by the tiniest of events—a fragment of conversation, a certain hue of light, even the smell of a place—nostalgia, that wistful remembrance and comfortable longing for people and situations of the past, is a curious thing. As cozy and snug as affection for the past can be, nostalgia is the very thing that can obscure the remembrance of what actually took place or loosen your grasp on the complex web of issues that accompany an event. A prime example of this phenomenon is Christmas, where nativity sets, Santa Claus, ice-skating, tinsel-covered pine trees, Ebenezer Scrooge, eggnog, and candlelight church services are all wrapped up into one big ball that we throw into our shopping carts while we push our way through the aisles serenaded by Muzaked Christmas carols The nostalgia that holds that holiday-spiced ball together masks the truth of Christmas: that to Mary and Joseph, their circumstances and actions were not remarkable, sparkling, and picture-perfect, but very small and very dangerous and possibly very foolish. ‘Salvation Is Created’, the new record from Bifrost Arts to be released November 3rd on Great Comfort Records, is a modern-day oratorio that seeks to present the Christmas story stripped of sentimentality in the hopes of revealing afresh the mystery and strangeness of Christmas as it initially emerged. By making the familiar unfamiliar, the listener is reintroduced to the Christmas drama and encounters beauty to be sure, but also blackness, dry desert, strange noises from unknown sources, and the confusion and anxiety so latent in the situation. The quiet and fragile hope provided by a baby born without medical assistance in an unsuitable environment, in an insignificant town and amongst circumstances dangerous both physically and politically, takes on greater poignancy. The outcome of the story is unknown and uncertain, and certainly not the prelude that one would expect to the story of a king or universal triumph. From producers Isaac Wardell and Mason Neely, joined by a remarkable collection of artists (including Diane Birch, Derek Webb (Caedmon's Call), Matt Bauer, Aimee Wilson, Ben + Vesper, Elin K. Smith, and Sarah Fullen), ‘Salvation Is Created’ is exceptional in its humble elegance and haunting beauty. Some of the album’s voices are coarse and fragile, some are soaring and victorious, some are perfectly bittersweet, and all are pulled together by a mesmerizing stylistic alchemy created when grand orchestral arrangements meet slow-burn R&B bass and guitar, and are joined by the winsome tinkling of the celeste, the woodsy low of bassoon, and intimate folk whisperings, to present the Christmas drama through carols both familiar and forgotten. The idea of faith abandons the realm of the Hallmark card and enters the real world, and the promise of ‘God with us’ comes with sobriety, but with joy that penetrates to the bone.” Participating musicians include Devon Sproul, Paul Curreri, Ben + Vesper, Sarah Fullen, Elin K. Smith (Danielson), Robert Heiskel, Diane Birch, Derek Webb, Evan Gregory, Matt Bauer, Maeve, and Aimee Wilson

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