On The Blue CD

Joel Auge (pronounced "Ozhay") hails from Ontario, Canada, where he serves as a worship leader for The Meeting House family of churches and also runs his own digital marketing company. Although On The Blue marks his solo debut, Auge is not new to Christian music. He has been performing and recording since 1999 with the bands Capstone, Six Days and Hewit. For On The Blue, Auge stays true to his worship calling, delivering 12 songs that are vertically inspired and deeply introspective. All are delivered on a canvas of art-rock, folk and pop.

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Reviewed by Jennifer @ Quiverfull Family (Canada), September 07, 2009

There are times when the opening refrains of an album promise great things to come. The first time I popped in Canadian worship artist Joel Augé’s debut solo album On the Blue an irrepressible grin took possession of my face. The howling love song composed to Jesus – “So Deep in Love” – captured my heart, and promised a great album – a promise that has largely been fulfilled. Far from being a newcomer to Christian music, Augé has been performing and recording since 1999 with other bands. His debut album reflects his calling as worship leading, offering up what he calls ‘vertically inspired’ songs – straight from his heart to God’s. With the majority of the offerings on the album flowing from his own pen, the blending of straight-up praise and worship songs is carefully enhanced by the frequently sparse acoustic accompaniment of each work. Augé terms his style ‘art-rock’ – I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with the label, but I’m impressed with what he does. Strong folk influences are felt throughout with his simple guitar picking and rhythmic cadences. However, punchy, upbeat tunes with electric guitar, bass, keyboards, and percussion are also present making up the backdrop for the rock-inflected songs. It’s hard to pick favorites from the disc; nearly each song is excellent, though some suffer from awkward or seemingly irrelevant lyrical phrases at times. While listening to the disc my husband even mentioned periods where the lyrics weren’t as strong as they could have been. Hopefully as Augé matures in his song writing these slight glitches will be resolved. The overall strength of the album clearly overwhelms these ‘off’ moments. Augé’s tenor voice tends to soar into the upper heights of his range, soaring and undulating. His isn’t a husky, hearty vocal performance – more of a plaintive, pleading style. Clearly, I’m a new fan. I could only have wished for a longer disc.

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