Tenth Avenue North ‘The Things We’ve Been Afraid To Say’ Album Review

Tenth Avenue North
The Things We’ve Been Afraid To Say
(ReMade Records)

After a decade of music, Tenth Avenue North has built an impressive platform comprised of multiple chart-topping singles and Dove Award wins. The Things We’ve Been Afraid to Say makes it clear the band has a well-formed plan on how to best utilize their position with radio, the church and fans after so much success—namely with the release of an EP that will force often uncomfortable subjects to the surface.

Typically if an artist/band chooses to write and record a song based on any number of rarely discussed material, the song is relegated to the back half of an album. Yet Tenth’s new EP even shines its very title on the wide range of subjects within: marital stress and worries, pornography and lust, sexual abuse, divisive stances in modern politics. Lyrically, Tenth Avenue North runs willingly down any and all roads, a refreshing turn and important gift to all who listen.

Musically, fans should rest assured that one of the best melodic bands shows no signs of slowing. “Covenant” opens up about a marriage strained by distance—likely the road-weary family life of a traveling pop/rock band—yet the pulsing pop earworm crafted around it carries fear-filled lyrics in a buoyant beat not easily forgotten. “Counterfeits” is surrounded in epic synth builds, an interesting choice for a song about the shame and lies of pornography. “Love Anyway” might actually make it easier to come together under such an infectious musical banner.

The church should be a safe place to come together, to learn together, to confess together. Our fears and shame and failures lose their collective power when we expose them to the light. Tenth Avenue North has provided tools for the important work ahead, and they’ve made it sound so good as well. Don’t miss the most important work by one of Christian music’s most popular bands.

–Matt Conner