Sing My Welcome Home, the latest album from Seattle dream pop band Pacific Gold, is a little bit different than what most bands put out. Sing My Welcome Home is a record that features hymns and spiritual songs and flips them to make them more modern day friendly, and surprisingly it works. Formally known as Wayfarer, the group’s entire purpose is to play hymns and other spiritual songs and breathe new life into them, by completely reconstructing each one with new music. Fronted by Sherwood member Dan Koch who plays guitar, the music of Pacific Gold is very different from the songs he wrote with Sherwood, though it’s always fun to hear musicians we love shake things up a bit, whether its performing a new style of music or in this case, reworking old religious songs to give them a different angle.
“A Day Is Coming” opens the album and the easygoing and relaxed feel (along with the carefree whistling in the intro) adds a nice spice to traditional spiritual tunes. The vocals from Koch sound crisp and clean, giving the track a hollower feel, though it doesn’t take away from the songs clear spiritual meaning. “Song In The Air” is a dark and slightly brooding track that feels heavier than its predecessor, giving us the loud and booming church organ feel that many of us know well. At this point, the bands attempt to bring hymns to a different audience is done well, though the light dream pop sound of the album starts to feel slightly repetitive, leaving us wanting to hear something different and more emotionally stirring.
“Sands of Time (Reprise)” is a short track that encompasses not only the bands mission, but also the album as a whole. The track features beautiful group vocals along with a quiet and delicate acoustic guitar, making it feel like you are listening to a church choir, and as the vocals flow out of the speakers, we hear the beauty and simplicity of Sing My Welcome Home.
