2008 was my Year of Michelle Tumes.  In the first three months of the year, I listened to her first three albums like crazy, then in late March I got her fourth album and started playing it like crazy.  (To see the full story, see my entry for her on my Hall Of Fame.)

My #5 album

of 2008

Released on Sparrow Records in 2000

Michelle Tumes is part of my Hall Of Fame.  To see the story of how I became a Michelle Tumes fan and why she’s strong enough to make my Hall Of Fame, click here.

  I started listening to this second album of hers in January 2008 when we had lots of snow; nobody makes music for snow like Michelle Tumes.  I had already worn out her third and first album, and decided to dig out this one, which for some reason hadn’t resonated with me when I first acquired it in 2007.

     I’m not sure why it didn’t hit the spot with me when I first got it because it’s 100% Michelle Tumes.  Perhaps at times it seemed too “inspirational” in sound like her first album did, but I don’t hear that in it now.

     Michelle Tumes makes smooth, airy pop music that at times is reminiscent of Enya.  The tempos are generally slow or medium speed, the mood very laidback and mellow.  The sounds are beautiful.  And for me, as one who usually wants to listen to music that connects me with God, her explicitly Christian lyrics are greatly appreciated.

    The quintessential example of Michelle Tumes’s sound is found in the song “Lovely.”  It’s slow, gentle, and has glistening vocals.  It’s a song with a vertical focus.  (I’ve included a lyrical excerpt in the column to the left.)

    One track on this album is different from any on any of her four albums.  It is a mostly a cappella track with four-part harmony (including male vocals, the only male vocals I can ever recall on her albums).  Its simple message is, “Lay aside all worldly cares.”  The sound of this song helps with that endeavor.  With agility, this track transitions into the song “Christe Eleison” (Latin for “Christ, have mercy”).

     There is one song on this album I generally always skip.  In the midst of this laidback, peaceful album, the fourth song, “Do Ya” jumps out glaringly out of place with vivacious pop sounds and lyrics asking, in paraphrased words here, “Do ya love me even for all my quirks?”  The song itself is okay; it just doesn’t fit on this album.

     Michelle Tumes’s third & fourth albums are definitely my two favorites of hers, but I’ve listened to this one many, many times and have gotten much enjoyment from it.  Certainly it was one of my top albums of 2008.

Lyrical excerpt from “Lovely”

I understand there may be grief

     and there may be pain

But I’m aware You blind the darkness

     with who You are because

You’re lovely, lovely

You’re the center of my universe

A thousand times I look around me

     and I find

You’re lovely, lovely

You’re the center of my universe

A million ways could not explain

You’re lovely

Lyrical excerpt from “Immortal”

I talk; my heart is singing

I kneel, and I’m ascending

I’m wounded, but You are healing

Earth is bright through Holy Eyes

That search from above

And my spirit’s leaping

Straight to the gates of heaven

Where I belong

My feet have journeyed

Longing to reach my home

This page was first posted August 2, 2009 with a new hit counter added July 15, 2012