I'm glad National Review featured such a positive review to one of my very favorite bands, Sixpence None the Richer. It's exceedingly rare that a band's fourth full-length album is its best (most bands peak on their first album), but that's the case here. It's also exceedingly rare that I can buy an album and actually enjoy all of the songs (most bands put out albums on which 1 to 4 songs are worthwhile and the others are filler).

If you like acoustic-tinged pop, tunes full of hooks, masterful arrangements, and lyrics that are intelligent and meaningful, then check out their new album Divine Discontent.

Here's the review from Amazon:

Pushing aside broken relationships in both their professional and personal lives in the last five years, members of Sixpence None the Richer are probably more relieved than anyone else to finally see the arrival of Divine Discontent. Yet true art seems to take its purest form when forged through turmoil, and this much-anticipated release is as pure as solid gold. The 12 tracks featured here are nothing short of a brilliant pop tapestry woven through Leigh Nash's airy and vibrant vocals and songwriter Matt Slocum's finely textured guitar work. While fans of "Kiss Me" will relate to the upbeat "Tonight" and "Breathe Your Name," no one should mistake the upbeat pop for shallowness. In fact, tracks like "Down and Out of Time," "Paralyzed," and "I've Been Waiting" display a rich lyrical depth centered on the human experience. Throughout Divine, Slocum showcases a prowess for offsetting Nash's lilting melodies against haunting, minor key choruses, creating a bittersweet melancholy that lingers well after each song. Perhaps the band does this no better than in the ending track, "A Million Parachutes," which captures that dull ache of longing for friends from afar. It's a feeling well known to those Sixpence fans who have waited five long years for this release. The wait was well worth it. --Michael Lyttle