Young Oceans - I Must Find You (2014)

The journey of the recording of Young Oceans, the loose collective of musicians and songwriters led by Eric Marshall and based out of New York City’s Trinity Grace Church reads like a remarkable Hollywood drama. Over the course of recording their latest record, I Must Find You, the band dealt with bitter cold in the studio, faulty equipment, mounds of writer’s block, endless work on a track that wouldn’t even make the cut, and most painfully, the loss of Marshall’s mother in law to suicide, a hurt that cut deep.

And while Marshall and company could have packed it in, feeling overwhelmed by the crush of life pressing in on them, almost feeling cursed every time they entered the recording studio (the last time they recorded a hurricane slammed into New York), they instead sought solace in the Scriptures, Marshall finding peace in Psalm 13. Finding their hope there, the artist poignantly offers, “This was the way forward. It’s brutal and graceful irony that the way of Christ is death to life. And if these songs are about the struggle, the search, the brokenness and the ultimate Hope, then I’d be a liar if I told it differently.”

The result of this experience is an album that is one of the collective’s finest, offering up immensely creative musical spaces and powerfully imaginative hymn-like lyricism. With a sound that recalls elements of bands like U2, Future of Forestry, The Digital Age, and Sigor Ros, among others, Young Oceans have crafted eleven compelling atmospheric tracks that truly do draw the soul to worship.

The record opens with the resolute call to worship of “A Rising Fire,” swelling guitars providing lift to Marshall’s confessions of faith while on “How Cold It Is” he offers a psalm-styled lament, singing, “How cold it is without You/I’m pleading for rest O my God/And this wandering, when will it stop/I’m burning, burning, burning/For You, Lord.” Marshall’s improvised notes throughout give an extra emotion that carries the song forward while “Lead Me” is a muted prayer acknowledging our need for God.

Building on some bright keyboard tones, “Only You” declares the truth that “Yes, there will be trial and tribulation/And You’ll grant me breath to persevere/May my heart beat in pure anticipation/Of the day when You’ll dry all these tears,” a powerful thought, while the title track possesses a slow building indie rock sensibility, the space within the song simply big and expansive while Marshall asks some of the most honest questions to God to be found in Christian music today.

“Vidi Aquam” provides an ancient future moment of contemplation, acoustic guitar and swelling tones accented by cello providing a moment of true meditation before the surprisingly upbeat “Until These Tears Are Gone” sweeps in with a throb of percussion and energy. Building on those vibes, “Praise the Lord Ye Heavens” delivers another ancient confession swathed in postmodern tones, Marshall’s voice airy and accessible as a persistent guitar thread presses the track forward to the sublimely beautiful “Into the Light” with its plodding drumbeat and subtle rips of guitar. And it’s with album closer “To Hear Your Voice,” built on quiet explorations of sound, that Marshall concludes, “Thou are the Author of salvation/O Lord it’s written and it’s told/Your blessed words, our invitation/’Come to me all ye weary souls’.”

Young Oceans I Must Find You is more than just an album to be listened to, more than tracks to simply be enjoyed. Rather, this album is an experience, something powerful and transcendent and holy and its best enjoyed in its entirety, allowing the honest peace and hope that flows through to truly seep into your bones. As you do, these songs crafted through times of pain and adversity will flow over you and, if you’ll allow them to, will no doubt draw you into a deeper place of connection and community with the Savior.