The Choir - Artifact The Unreleased Album (2018)

With their origins in Orange County, California, and their current incarnation based out of Nashville, Tennessee, atmospheric alt-rock outfit the Choir have undergone their fair share of changes throughout their long career. Formed in 1984 under the moniker Youth Choir, and built around the distinctive playing of guitarist and vocalist Derri Daugherty, the evocative lyrics of drummer Steve Hindalong, and the inventive, ambient post-rock flourishes of guitar player Marc Byrd, rounded out by saxophone and Lyricon player Dan Michael and bass player Tim Chandler, the band spent its early days infusing its signature blend of shoegaze, soaring alt-rock, and melodic psych-pop with a spiritual core. Prolific and critically lauded, but unable to bridge the gap (financially) between CCM and the mainstream -- successful faith-based alt-rockers such as Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, and Sixpence None the Richer cite the Choir as a significant influence -- the band considered closing up shop in 1996, shortly after relocating to Nashville and releasing its ninth studio album, Free Flying Soul. Wisely, they chose to stick it out and landed a Grammy Award nomination for 2000s independently released Flap Your Wings, which led to successful subsequent recordings like O How the Mighty Have Fallen (2005), Burning Like the Midnight Sun (2010), The Loudest Sound Ever Heard (2012), and Shadow Weaver (2014), the latter of which saw the group moving in a more secular direction. ~ James Christopher Monger.