Orchestral rock/modern gospel
With Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode on vocals, this English duo delves into American musical styles and buffs up its songs with strings and gospel singers. Here Soulsavers cultivate a lush, lovely sound that ultimately becomes a little monotonous over the album’s course. All songs are slow. A lot of the words seem to be about a loved one, with some religious subject matter mixed in. Favorites: 3, 6, 8. No FCCs.

1. (1:51)—Instrumental. Orchestral, with some Western flavor.
2. (3:33)—Tense, pensive, dramatic. Strings, organ, and acoustic guitar.
3. *(4:14)—Mournful, pretty verses and searing, rocking choruses with gospel singers.
4. (3:45)—Starts with acoustic guitar and deep bowed strings. Big swelling strings during the chorus.
5. (4:03)—Soft. Acoustic guitar forms the backbone, with gospel singers and strings adding color. There’s a lot of reverb on the vocals.
6. *(3:12)—Acoustic guitar and vocals with a slight echo effect. Organ and bass guitar lead the way to a big, dramatic climax. Ends abruptly.
7. (1:41)—Instrumental. Melancholy strings.
8. *(4:05)—All the strings and background singers, plus horns. Particularly close in sound to modern gospel.
9. (4:50)—Starts as a spacey ballad, builds to gorgeous choruses highlighted by the presence of horns.
10. (5:02)—Soft verses, organ driven choruses. Pretty, string-filled break before the final choruses.
11. (3:45)—Especially slow beginning. Piano and distorted guitar. The music builds but restrains itself from letting the full band enter.
12. (3:58)—Starts like a modern country ballad, with harmonica and everything. Quickly takes on the dramatic, lush sound of the other songs, though.
Footnote: It’s not in KZSU’s library, but Soulsavers’ 2007 album It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s The Way You Land, featuring Mark Lanegan, is definitely worth your time. Seek it out.