Edison Glass: A Burn Or A Shiver
Edison Glass’s subtle blend of rock in their album, A Burn or A Shiver, brings an ‘older’ Earl Grey feel—a maturity that blends the sounds of Joshua Silverberg’s voice, Joe Morin’s drums, James Usher’s guitars and Josh Morin’s bass and piano into something more classic than one might have expected of a premiere release.
Starting off with “My Fair One,� Silverberg’s words seem faintly Old English, as he calls to his loved one to rise up from “winter’s rest,� to end the hibernation of their love. He longs to “kindle sacred flames/of love within my heart.� And somewhere, my Renaissance Lit professor is smiling.
In the continuation of this dialogue between the singer and his ‘muse’ in “Forever,� Silverberg sees himself more clearly: “You never expected perfection/All you want is my affection/What is this about you that makes me believe?� The ‘other’ is elevated to a higher position than the singer himself—he is made better by his relationship with this other, and the higher power asks for little more than love in return. What Silverberg gets is an “authenticity of your grace given so abundantly.� In “Starlight,� it is confirmed that the other defines what love is, all of the time, regardless of the situation.
“Today Has Wings� welcomes a coming change and cries for the “sweet spirit� to place its mark on the people there. Silverberg recognizes that he carries too much pride and unfair expectation in his thick skin and wishes for something more liveable—Jesus showed a way of love like no other.
Having learned new ideas of love, Edison Glass struggles with “divided devotion and controlled passion/theories of purity that remain hypothesis/plural allegiances and dual monogamies� as “ghosts that haunt the graveyards of normality� in “Dear Honesty.� Wow, what a complex predicament…and yet they make a good point. What trouble we find ourselves in as we become overcome by our insecurity and pride—divided we fall but we unite with all the wrong things.
The band seeks to know the source of ‘rain,’ rather than just the rain itself in “The River,� rejecting the superficial discrepancies mentioned above. “I know there’s more, I long for something deeper,� sings Silverberg, as he feels drawn deeper to the river.
In the last two tracks, the title track and “When All We Have is Taken/Comfort,� Edison Glass seeks out comfort for all that ails him. He recognizes that truth is being spoken/sung out but that at times it feels more than he can bear. Still, he sings in the end, “I’m falling to grace again/When all we have is taken/Take it all, take it now, I surrender..� Here at last, the band finds peace in recognizing its position as less than the other, but raised to a higher position by its allegiance. Rather than focusing on where they are in terms of location, they recognize the benefits—peace, hope and grace.
Not for hard rockers and not for easy listening, their debut album falls somewhere in between. Edison Glass sings some interesting tunes—and asks some good questions—listen along to burn or shiver.
Starting off with “My Fair One,� Silverberg’s words seem faintly Old English, as he calls to his loved one to rise up from “winter’s rest,� to end the hibernation of their love. He longs to “kindle sacred flames/of love within my heart.� And somewhere, my Renaissance Lit professor is smiling.
In the continuation of this dialogue between the singer and his ‘muse’ in “Forever,� Silverberg sees himself more clearly: “You never expected perfection/All you want is my affection/What is this about you that makes me believe?� The ‘other’ is elevated to a higher position than the singer himself—he is made better by his relationship with this other, and the higher power asks for little more than love in return. What Silverberg gets is an “authenticity of your grace given so abundantly.� In “Starlight,� it is confirmed that the other defines what love is, all of the time, regardless of the situation.
“Today Has Wings� welcomes a coming change and cries for the “sweet spirit� to place its mark on the people there. Silverberg recognizes that he carries too much pride and unfair expectation in his thick skin and wishes for something more liveable—Jesus showed a way of love like no other.
Having learned new ideas of love, Edison Glass struggles with “divided devotion and controlled passion/theories of purity that remain hypothesis/plural allegiances and dual monogamies� as “ghosts that haunt the graveyards of normality� in “Dear Honesty.� Wow, what a complex predicament…and yet they make a good point. What trouble we find ourselves in as we become overcome by our insecurity and pride—divided we fall but we unite with all the wrong things.
The band seeks to know the source of ‘rain,’ rather than just the rain itself in “The River,� rejecting the superficial discrepancies mentioned above. “I know there’s more, I long for something deeper,� sings Silverberg, as he feels drawn deeper to the river.
In the last two tracks, the title track and “When All We Have is Taken/Comfort,� Edison Glass seeks out comfort for all that ails him. He recognizes that truth is being spoken/sung out but that at times it feels more than he can bear. Still, he sings in the end, “I’m falling to grace again/When all we have is taken/Take it all, take it now, I surrender..� Here at last, the band finds peace in recognizing its position as less than the other, but raised to a higher position by its allegiance. Rather than focusing on where they are in terms of location, they recognize the benefits—peace, hope and grace.
Not for hard rockers and not for easy listening, their debut album falls somewhere in between. Edison Glass sings some interesting tunes—and asks some good questions—listen along to burn or shiver.
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