Nothing Ordinary by East of Eli really is nothing ordinary at all. Nathan West’s debut album under his project, East of Eli, is asalute to all those folk heroes before him. It really has been the most soothing album I have listened to in the longest time. This is the perfect album for winding down after a stressful day or falling asleep to. Sitting here and writing this late at night, it sounds amazing, but in my opinion, listening to this in the middle of the day or while driving to work would be a very different experience, and possibly a boring one.
Listeners of Christian alternative music will immediately notice the similarities with Nathan West and well-known songwriter and musician Chris Tomlin. Not in the lyrics, but in the rhythms and studio work. However, at points the studio and digital sounds really do become too much.
The catchiest song, and the one that I can see blowing up, is the 4th song, “Riptide”. It begins with the question, “What’s the point in living if everyone dies?” and continues to explore the questions that don’t have an answer or are to scary to even ask. This is the song from the album that will stick with me and that I will have on repeat for the next week. If this song doesn’t show up on the Coffee House XM station, I will be shocked.
The closer to the album is “Start Again” and the best possible song to end with. This song starts off slow and builds up to an explosion in a musically layered harmony of guitars, overlapping voice, and beat similar to something from a Death Cab for Cutie or The Shins single. After the song finishes, you are left with an emptiness and hunger for more and that’s what a great EP should aim to do. If you are even slightly curious, take a listen because it will only take you about 18 minutes to see how much potential East of Eli has.
Release Date: 30 March 2014
Rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 18:64
Track Listing:
1.Nothing Ordinary
2.The Silent Kind
3.Farwell
4.Riptide
5.Start Again
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Written By: Chase Causey
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