Reviews
Review by D.S. Martin: (full review here)
“It’s hard to explain why I was so excited on first hearing the opening bars of ‘Who will roll away the stone?’ the first song on Until He Comes by Ordinary Time. It must come from having heard many less-interesting recordings from outfits with far more music industry-savvy, that I was caught, sad to say, with little expectation…
The album conjures images of the three band members—Peter La Grand, Ben Keyes and Jill Zimmerman—out on the porch, singing songs in the starlit night to the maker of the starlight, or perhaps having slipped inside to gather around an upright piano in the parlour. They make me think somewhat of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, but with no sign of their Nashville cool, or perhaps an outfit of academically trained panhandlers.
Take one part 1960s folk trio, one part 1940s bluegrass band and one part small town church musical feature and you might have some idea—if you make your participants artistic, intelligent people of faith. I add this because there is an unconscious sophistication—or a deliberately suppressed sophistication—that pervades these recordings. Every word, whether written by the band and their friends or selected from centuries-old hymns, has been carefully weighed.”
“Until He Comes” in Image Update: (full review here)
“Some bands do things in reverse. Such is the case with Ordinary Time. The trio’s first CD was released before the band had a name. Additionally, it was a Christmas album, and one that sounded like it had been plucked out of the early part of the twentieth century–full of folk harmony, mandolin, guitar, and violin. Now named, Ordinary Time just released their second album, Until He Comes. Similar to In the Town of David, the band places standards such as ‘How Sweet and Awesome is the Place’ (Isaac Watts) and ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing’ (Robert Robinson) alongside originals by Ben Keyes, Peter La Grand, Tom Wuest, and Jill Zimmerman. Such juxtaposition adds a sense of timelessness to each song and a contemporary spin on tradition.”
“In the Town Of David” in Image Update: (full review here)
“In the Town of David possesses all the characteristics of a well-worn Christmas favorite: warmth, a sense of the holy, and an embodiment of tradition… The CD is an intimate, nearly hour-long session of songs for—though not limited to—the Christmas season. With consummate skill, Keyes, La Grand, and Zimmerman take turns on lead vocals, pass their instruments around, and create harmonies with a simple beauty one might expect of a fireside performance…. One of the album’s greatest strengths is the timelessness of its lyrics and music; split evenly between original material and traditionals, the listener often needs the liner notes to tell the difference. In knowing the roots of their art—the tradition of sturdy songs built on the lineage of folk, Americana, and blues—the trio has created an album bearing an historical patina. This sense of timelessness, then, has about it something that connects present and past, thus enabling a future trajectory. One imagines a listener in 1930 would have enjoyed the songs as much as one in 2007. And one hopes listeners in years to come will feel the same.”