Future Of Forestry is mostly the artist name of Eric Owyoung, a songwriter, arranger, and performer. On this EP, he sings 5 traditional Christmas songs with his beautiful baritone voice, with lush instrumentation of guitars, strings, sometimes drums and percussion, and even some horns. (Whoa, the credits says there's a theremin in there somewhere?) Some tracks like "The First Noel" are quiet, but "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and "Little Drummer Boy" are much more rock than the others. Future Of Forestry makes these songs their own by inserting instrumentation and interludes in places while still honoring these classic songs. They've got a bunch of other Christmas EPs and albums too, if you like this one.

Release Year: 2008
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Huh, this week many of the albums I picked were pop/rock albums with electronic elements, and it just so happens I continue that today. Young Christian pop star Rebecca St. James and her producer Tedd T. in the late '90s decided to incorporate lots of electronic programming into this album, simply titled Pray. It's definitely not the best Rebecca St. James album, but it came out at a time when she was one of my favorite artists. I didn't really like it as much because it was a bit more mellow than her earlier album God, which had more guitars and rock elements. But listening back to this album today, I like it better than I remembered. Her covers of Rich Mullins and Keith Green songs fit well with the album and have a chill vibe. And actually, there's more guitars than I remember, though they're sometimes buried deep in the mix. Maybe it just plays better on a loud system than it did on some of the systems I had back in the '90s. A special shout-out to the CD hidden track, an electronic dance version of the hymn "Be Thou My Vision", which I've always loved on this album.

Release Year: 1998
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This may be one of the best albums of the last 15 years, in my opinion. Josh Garrels is an independent singer-songwriter, and on this album he creates a musical experience that keeps the listener engaged. Brooklyn music collective Mason Jar Music delivers lush, hauntingly beautiful instrumentals and backing vocals throughout, with strings, horns, and other instruments as well as guitars and drums. When I first listened to this, I thought I had it pegged as a mostly acoustic folk/rock album after a few songs. But then when "Farther Along" had spoken-word verses, the next track was just an instrumental interlude, and then "The Resistance" had full-on rap, I realized that this artist was going to keep me on my toes. It's over an hour of top-notch songs that flow seamlessly into each other and it's still my favorite album by Josh Garrels.

Release Year: 2011
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Emery is a band that's hard to explain for me. They have a wide variety of sounds. There's definitely some screaming and lots of guitars, but it's also "emo" in parts and I think the sung vocals kinda remind me of a musical in the way they're sung for some reason. I'm Only A Man is their third album and it talks about the humanity of us and the struggles with relationships and ego. Honestly, the first time or two I listen to an Emery album, I usually am not sure I like it, but on subsequent listens I find more depth musically and lyrically, plus the unexpected turns it takes don't throw me off so much. This album is maybe not for everyone, but it's a musical roller coaster of rock, metal, emo, electronic pop, and many other things.

Release Year: 2007
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