Product Description

Sometimes songs about brokenness and songs about hope ... are the same thing. From Carolyn: The night of January 1st I couldn t sleep, and as I tossed and turned I started thinking about a collection of songs I ve written and kept close to my heart but never recorded. Most of these songs are a little darker ... not hopeless songs, but songs about the kind of hope that shows up more in the cracks and fissures of our lives than in our pinnacle moments. Many of these tunes have been slated to be on other projects I ve recorded, but in each case they just didn t end up fitting with my sunnier material. Maybe I was a bit afraid to record them. Some were a little too real, and maybe a little too grumpy, for me to go public with them. But that sleepless first night of 2006, it suddenly seemed important that I record those songs. And as soon as I gave myself permission to do a project like this, brand new songs started arriving as well. So here I am with a collection of songs old and new, all in some way about a dissatisfaction I hope I can accurately call a Holy Discontent. Musically, we did our best to keep this record very stripped down and pure. We hope we ve captured a musical honesty appropriate to the candor of the lyrics. We live in a broken world, a world in which our spirits like all of creation -- groan as we wait for a long-promised reconciliation between (in the words of Brian McLaren) what we hope for and what we have, what we could be and what we are, what we believe and what we see and feel. I do believe that we will one day be all that we were created to be, and that what we hope for won t even come close to what awaits us. But in the meantime, there s no point denying the ache. It s a part of who we are, it s a promise that we won t always be this way, and it s a call to participate now in the Kingdom of Heaven by decrying injustice and living love. Thanks for listening, Carolyn Arends

Track Listing

1. Just Pretending
2. Something to Give
3. What in the World
4. The Wasteland
5. Land of the Living
6. To See Your Face
7. Everybody Wants Everything
8. More is Less
9. Free
10. No Trespassing
11. Not Alone
12. I've Got a Hope

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #186666 in Music
• Released on: 2006-05-16
• Number of discs: 1

Review
It feels good to tell the truth, even when it is hard, and it feels good to hear it too, especially when it is couched in great songs by an amazing songwriter like Carolyn. In her own words, she says this album is 'darker', but I hear hope more than anything, and the light that comes with telling the truth. --Sara Groves, Recording Artist

Review
I came to Pollyanna s Attic with high expectations. But Carolyn Arends exceeded them. In a word, her album is powerful. In more words, it is stunningly, movingly powerful. --Kevan Breitingar, Suite 101.com

Review
This grower is simple, spacious, spiritual and warm. Very few artists achieve this mix of breath-gentle voice, effortless melody and incisive lyrics. --- Derek Walker, CEN (UK)

Customer Reviews

In Today's Dark World Arends' "Attic" Offers Light
Prime Cuts: To See Your Face, Not Alone, I've Got a Hope

Confession is good for the soul. Eschewing the trite path of padded answers unthinking Christians often use to as retorts to questions of suffering and loneliness, folk-pop Christian stylist Arends on her self-produced "Pollyanna's Attic" does not rescind to such clichés. Rather, she airs her poignant yet stark queries within the framework of God's sovereignty. Described by this multiple Dove Award winner as her "dark" album, there's actually nothing spiritually nocturnal about these songs. Conversely, in the midst of her wrestles, there's an obsequious abandonment to the graciousness of God that is unfettered by any subterfuge. However, relative to Arends' previous efforts, there is a general dearth of the summery high charging tenor of hits like "New Year's Day" or "Seize the Day." On the other hand, "Pollyanna's Attic" finds a more contemplative and matured Arends who has been through the winger of life hampered by its incessant share of disappointments and yet comforted by God in His most mysterious ways.

Setting the tenor for the album, opener "Just Pretending," with its Sheryl Crow-like guitar underpinnings, is an acoustic rocking assault on the superficiality of our Western society with penetrating lines such as: "Life's not some greeting card/Models and movie stars/They're just pretending." Not one to be constrained by genre, Arends lets her hair down on the full-fledged rocker with an electronic rap-like demeanor on "Everybody Wants Everything," a brush off of today's obsession with wealth and fame. Based on the Exodus account, "The Wasteland" recounts the devastating effects of sin, told with an unpretentious urgency.

But, not everything is that hard edged, evidenced by the piano-led "To See Your Face." Offered as a prayer to God under the weight of suffering, "To See Your Face" finds Arends prostrate before the Almighty with nothing but childlike trust. This track by itself is worth the CD's money; this is God-honoring stuff at its best. "Not Alone," though not as emotionally intense, is a soft rock ballad that simmers with a haunting melody. Encoring the project in the most appropriate way is Eric Fiedor & Pierce Pettis' stately ballad "I've Got a Hope." Opening with her subdued vocals before engaging in a full-blown crescendo, Arends' performance shows what a great balladeer she can be.

"Pollyanna's Attic" may conjure up emotions that are dark and oppressive, but these are brought transparently before the light of God. And in the process, these songs radiate with a warm glow of truth and assurance often amiss in today's music. Vocally, Arends has never sounded better: when she's at her emotional and spiritual dire straits, her breathy nuances certainly bring out her vulnerability. Yet, on tracks when the strength of the Lord is extolled there is a vocal tenacity that is invincible. In a dark world, "Pollyanna's Attic" is the brightest place to be.

Carolyn's Best Album
I've been listening to Carolyn Arends since her first release, and I've always loved her music. Of all of her albums, the songs on Polyanna's Attic moved me the most.

Inspiring & Beautiful
This CD will touch your heart. The lyrics and melodies are beautiful and so meaningful in today's world. I highly recommend this CD for your collection.