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The name might not be immediately recognizable, but Andrew Osenga has been making music for a long time now. He used to be the lead singer for a group called The Normals. He's currently involved with a little group called Caedmon's Call. But, he's also a pretty well established independent folk/acoustic artist as well. He's a member of the illustrious Square Peg Alliance, which i'm pretty sure means that he knows a secret handshake or two and his latest effort, a six-song EP is currently available on his blog for free. FREE. Well, suggested donation is about 600, i mean 6 bucks. The community surrounding his blog helped him come up with the themes and such for these songs, and this walkTRu will take a look at how that all turned out.

Track One: Wanted... quite an interesting way to write an album... and it seems as though Andrew Osenga is quite an interesting guy... i'm a very casual reader of his blog, but whenever i do check in, i'm rarely disappointed... and i've listened to The Normals for a while now... in fact, A Place Where You Belong was one of the first CDs that i had sent to me... probably the first official pre-release... anyway... this is a sweet little ballad... i particularly like this harmony at the end... i've probably had this dream too actually now that i think about it... Track Two: The Ball Game... the opening section of this song sounds like a Mattew West song... it's a nice feel though... i like the story that the lyrics are telling... the contrast between life as a kid and as an adult... i watch my two boys as they play or whatever and as much as i love to see them learn, part of me is just crushed by the fact that they're losing bits and pieces of that freedom the older they get... kids lose their innocence far too early these days... Track Three: You Leave No Shadow... this song gives me the feeling of lisening to Paul SImon... that's a good thing... i just recently watched the first disc of the first season of Saturday Night Live and the episode that he hosted was absolutely brilliant... probably a highpoint for the series even though it's not 31 years ago? wow... anyway... i'm guessing that this is about the death and remembrance of a loved one... it has something of a haunting melody to it and the lyric "the good became so wrong" really sticks out for me... i like that line... the title is cool too, interesting way to reference death...

*** INTERMISSION (maybe it's cheating but i'm falling behind on this typing and i need to go stretch) ***

Track Four: Anna and the Aliens... i feel like i should confess that i didn't really take a break since it's only six songs... it's just that line is part of the template... so it has to be there... i'm hearing a little John Melloncamp influence in this song... probably because i tend to relate any relationship songs to Jack and Diane... maybe not... maybe there's more to it... imagine running away to New York City and ending up amidst a bunch of aliens... that could never happen... Track Five: The Blessing Curse... i love this song... i'm just gonna put that right out there... the lyrics and concept of this song are just plain brilliant... the opening line grabs your attention right away and the closing line of the first verse: "cause I've got things you can not steal"... awesome... the chorus is really nice too... i love that the things we get only give us a hint of what we're missing... that's great... love this song... Track Six: Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates... okay, this song reminds me of another song as well, but i can't place it... maybe something from Sufjan... maybe something else... it's mainly the melody of "swing wide the glimmering gates"... this song seems to be about wanting to return to that innocence that was mentioned in "The Ball Game"... at least in the sense of having faith like a child... i think we learn too much in life and we tend to lean on that knowledge or the pursuit of knowledge until it becomes a god-like figure to us... the last little verse is really neat... "I'll know that I belong"... very nice... oh, and i'm out of time... well, that was entirely too short... but very well worth it...

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