Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By House Of Peace, Rex Records 2021.
House Of Peace is another Christian band that I’ve come across that is making the move to the mainstream charts.
Love Is A Flame is a single lifted from their 2019 album Welcome To The River.
I haven’t heard the album but if this single is anything to go by it should be worth checking out.
House of Peace, who hail from Nashville, have a retro early 2000s sound full of strings and synths supported by a rock unpinning of drums, guitars, and bass.
This orchestral approach provides a powerful musical backdrop to the lyrics as the music swirls dips and climbs around you.
Love Is A Flame doesn’t offer any new lyrical insights into an old topic but it does encapsulate the swirling emotions that come with love.
That feeling of immersion, weightlessness and intoxication.
The lead singer and songwriter from House Of Peace, David Liscum, says that he’s not really interested in song writing or being an artist “for the sake of it.”
He sees his song writing as a form of “worship leading.”
I’m not entirely sure I know what that is or fully entails but I can tell you that, for someone who is not that interested in song writing, he writes a pretty good song.
Liscum adds that he’s interested in “touching people’s hearts” and “encouraging the church to send the gospel out” so you’ll appreciate the evangelizing that’s intended.
I find it interesting that this track, along with Amen from For King & Country, found their way into my subconscious before I became aware of the bands’ Christian heritage.
On multiple listens it’s obvious that there is a religious element but what made both songs initially stand out was the quality of the music and that both tracks had something to say.
I think there’s been some clever marketing going on here; there’s certainly been no expense spared in the production of Love Is A Flame.
It’s up there with the best releases this year.
