PRESS

Reviews of Fragile Iconoclast

David Wierzbicki - “Fragile Iconoclast provided some great points of discussion and a hopeful way forward in our conversations on what it is to worship in the place that we are. Such depth and devotion has been found in the searching and unsteady steps of life. I’ve been very appreciative of the artistry of Ryan and Holly and company in this season of un/faith.”

Mike Stavlund - “This EP is probably the band’s best work yet, with great collaboration from a whole slew of talented artists. It is an alluring mix of songs…with that trademark combination of Sharp cynicism and uplifting hope, and with delicious turns of phrase and some sweet grooves. It’s all good the first time through, and it grows on you from there. The DVD is an especially powerful addition, as it provides a grainy, black-and-white docu-coverage of the gang as they record the album live at Ryan and Holly’s house in San Francisco.”

Shae Cottar - “Besides being a treasure trove of theological and practical truth, this project shows an encouraging evolution for a songwriter who has made four masterpieces previous to this one…there simply aren’t that many places you can spend a buck for each song on the project and never feel gypped about one single track.”

Exiles in New York - “As ever, this is not jolly feel-good music, but it is nevertheless curiously positive and uplifting. Over all, the seven songs of Fragile Iconoclast form a beautiful piece of work and the accompanying DVD brings it to life in a wonderful and characteristically unaffected way.”

Interested in reviewing the newest album from The Cobalt Season? Contact us.

Interviews

Infuze Magazine Interviews The Cobalt Season’s Ryan Sharp (features an exclusive acoustic cut of Unified Theory)

Reviews of In Search of a Unified Theory

Brian McLaren - “I just got back from Africa and have been listening to In Search of a Unified Theory nonstop for a couple days. I’m totally blown away. I really liked But I Tell You, but this one just soars. The lyrics are powerful. The songs themselves are so strong, so well structured. The vocals are perfect. And the arrangements are completely amazing. I thought of several of my favorite bands - Innocence Mission, the Weepies, and Sigur Rós. This CD should win a bunch of awards. Thanks for making it, man!”

Mike Stavlund - “…if by ‘maturity’ [people] mean ‘going along with the program’, ‘giving up the dream’, or ‘becoming more realistic’, I hope Ryan never grows up. He has the vision of a seer, the courage of a prophet, the heart of a friend, and the soul of an artist. At the same time, this newest album is more balanced, more measured, more thoughtful, more constructive, more, well, mature…”

Bob Carlton - “In this glorious work, the Sharps combine to do what art is meant to do–unlock all the senses, let out the imagination, unleash anguish & hope, tease out a grove that sneaks up on your head–make you want to dance and protest and make love. That’s what music is for, right?”

Mark Van Steenwyk - “The album is a soul-searching pilgrimage. And here I think a comparison with Rich Mullins–at least the spirit of his music–is appropriate. Rich Mullins pursued Jesus with unabashed spiritual intensity. And I think the same is true of the Cobalt Season. This album–this musical pilgrimage–is filled with pain and ambiguity and uncertainty. The Cobalt Season are minstrels for the spiritually disenfranchised. It is a musical exploration of the via purgativa. It affirms the shadow side of life in a way that I wish Rich Mullins had in his life. This album is an exercise in pursuing Christ, but failing…yet still yearning…In a way, this album is the spiritual soundtrack for the emerging church.”

Mark Scandrette - “In Search of a Unified Theory is, I believe, a coming of age album for Ryan, in which he settles into a more mature voice musically and spiritually. The addition of Dan Dixon’s Eno-esque arrangements and instrumentation add sonic complexity, nuance and added intrigue to Ryan’s singer-song writing and near tearful croonings. It is also more of a piano album than previous releases…with banjo and chimes added by Dixon. In Search of a Unified Theory is a hopeful audio companion for anyone striving to live with greater intentionality, conscience courage within the ambiguities of human fraility.”

Mark Oestreicher - “In Search of a Unified Theory is one of the best albums of the year. The new tunes show a significant shift, following on the heels of Holly and Ryan’s multi-continent, multi-year vagabond-y pilgrimage, their subsequent settling down and finding community in San Francisco, and the birth of their son. Ryan is clearly more comfortable in his skin (and mind, and — maybe mostly — in his faith), the description of the new disc is: 12 songs of calmed frustration. Calmed. Yeah. The frustration is still there. I’d give this five stars (out of five). Really, it’s that good.”

Andy Padjen - “Ryan and Holly have a beautiful spirit about them. They’re funny and down to earth. They don’t take themselves too seriously. And they clearly have tender hearts and are passionately wrestling with what it means to live and love like Jesus. One of things I deeply appreciate and admire about their songwriting is that it’s honest. There’s a lot of struggling, wrestling, longing, along with some joy and hope.”

Michael Toy - “there is a ‘bone weary’ character about this album. the songs come from a person who’s run out of energy to scream, but not out of the energy to hope and to love. in some ways the emotional range is narrower than their last album. but at the same time, this album seems to go deeper, if we could measure such things…on a quest for the things beneath things, the “unified theory”, these songs search for connections , for rhyme and for strange symmetry. Careful Not to Draw Your Maps in Pen and Ink, one song warns the listener, because the journey is going to require some back tracking and erasing of borders and re-naming of mountain ranges…the most important border this album erases is the one between protest and progress. somehow the angry voice of American Empire in the last album is no longer trying to find an imaginary country which isn’t screwed up, but instead trying to imagine a life which isn’t screwed up. it’s a beautiful search, and a beautiful album.”

beauty. (t)ruth. god. - “…what I heard were songs of yearning for a Kingdom, for another reality, and a different way of living life…each piece of music accurately displays the depth of the lyrics to each song. ”

Infuze Magazine - “In Search of a Unified Theory is a strikingly honest and refreshing album. Moving from the previous work of deconstruction, Ryan Sharp and Co. is now in search and readily working toward building answers to their questions, seeking out Truth wherever it is to be found. Already one of this reviewer’s favorite albums of the year, this is a reflective listen you need to take time for.”

Ryan Wissink - “Ryan and Holly Sharp have done it again. There are few albums that I have heard that are as raw sounding as this one. You would swear they are right there in your living room. The album is natural, something very hard to find these days. This album is as musically creative as it is beautify recorded. Ryan’s lyrics are always deep. If you enjoy folk…even if you don’t…you will dig In Search of a Unified Theory. A definite ‘10′…thumbs up. Shoot if I was a record company I would have signed him 7 years ago.”

Justin Nygren - “In Search of a Unified Theory cries out for a script, for a wide-screen, for home movies edited together with children playing at family gatherings and grandma drunk on Christmas again. Road trips with the family that bothered you, but loved you more than you could ever realize. The abuse you inflicted on your brain with all the chemicals you jacked around with. The love that tore you to pieces…and then gave you a reason to live, and breathe and make love.”

Damien O’Farrell - “Several tracks continue to make my heart leap (or maybe sink…it feels the same to me) inside my chest and bring forth streams of tears. The other day, I was listening to it in my car and almost had to pull over. Ryan is a prophet who’s words, I think, mean much more once you catch up to his ideas. There’s been several times that I’ll have a thought, or an experience, or read something, and then be listening to Ryan’s stuff thinking… that’s what he meant… I wonder if he knew that he meant that? Bono, in my opinion, is the same way.”

Josh Brown - “In Search of a Unified Theory as a whole feels much deeper and more developed than his previous works. The songs feel “fuller” and “rounder” musically. The lyrics even seem more “grown-up”…it sort of steps away from the cliche of indie-folk and moves into a deeper area. In a market where everything sounds and feels the same and where the majority of the voices drivel away about lost romances . . . a voice like The Cobalt Season carries with it a certain weight. Not only prophetically critiquing the American Dream but creatively imagining more hopeful alternatives. It’s hard to find an album that can do either of the two very well. Let alone do both at the same time.”

Will Samson - “In Search of a Unified Theory is a more mellow offering, but don’t be fooled - this is a powerful album. It is the fourth album from the group and it shows a new kind of maturity that I love…the album still expresses plenty of angst, [but] seems to at least occupy a liminal space that is more hopeful. It provides a brilliant painting of life in between, and one that should connect with those engaging with emerging spirituality. But beyond the zeitgeist, this is just really good music.”

Chris Marlow - “Ryan is a master storyteller that never stops asking questions. This album is raw, gritty and spiritual. A mixture of anger, frustration, love and hope. Truthfully I feel like I’m hanging in a living room having a conversation with Ryan and Holly; discussing issues that are frustrating and hard to grasp. Yet these questions need to be asked, the story needs to be told. This album will also bring conviction to your soul and hope to your heart. Each song is a well crafted narrative that takes you on a spirtual pilgrimage.”

Makeesha Fisher - “Lyrically, listening to this album makes me feel soul hungry. Deep longing is a thread that seems to run throughout, but in the way a single thread merely adds to the whole of a beautiful tapestry. The hunger is hopeful rather than morose and brooding and there is a narrative feel to the album that adds to the sense of hopefulness.”

Dan Gregory - “Listening to their songs, raw with frustration, longing and hope, driven by piano and guitar sprinkled with strings and chimes reminds me that there are still some people out there who are living honestly. This album is inspiring.”

Vapor & Lies - “These are people who are familiar with pain, people who struggle with the difficulties of life. The genuine passion of the artists bleeds through to every aspect of their music, making it at times haunting and heartbreaking. A deep longing pervades the pathos of In Search of a Unified Theory.”

Reviews of LIVE: Deconstructing the American Dream

Infuze Magazine - “Disgruntled with the American notions of materialism and Christianity, [The Cobalt Season] set forth on a pilgrimage, traveling from town to town relying upon the hospitality of old and new friends as well as the grace of God to see them through, searching for answers and insight into the questions they found themselves asking.”

Reviews of But I Tell You

Salt Magazine - “Sharp has got the knack of combining the personal and the public without coming across as didactic–his songs are full of stories, commentary, and personal reflection, set mostly to simple guitar and drums with the occasional banjo accompaniment or back-up vocal.”

Mark Scandrette - “But I Tell You is a beautiful, gritty and honest singer-song writer effort. Ryan’s voice is tender and cracks into a yodel over his acoustic rhythms and soulful lyrics.”

Jon Reid - “Friends, I appreciate most indie recordings. But this one is different. Ryan Sharp has a gift.”

Michael Toy - “…it’s beautiful, its painful, it sings, it weeps, it dances, it soars…spin it several times and you’ll find many other treasures hidden in this spare but rich, quiet but prophetic, contradictory and somehow cohesive album.”

Nate Custer - “It is pretty, poppy (in the best sense of the word), and beautiful. However, lyrically he is a radical, revolutionary, raw, personal, intelligent, and honestly just plain challenging.”

Rick Bennett - “[The album] is among the better albums I have heard this year, in the vein of Iron and Wine, Derek Webb and Bright Eyes. If you like intelligent, acoustic, spiritually insightful music with cuss words, you need to buy this project.”

Will Samson -”Here’s the deal with But I Tell You: I connected with every song.”

Doug Pagitt - “This is a gutsy album. It is simple in sound and intense in lyrics.”

Cody from Portland - “His overall sound, I think, will be the future sound of music…joining the likes of ben gibbard, sam beam, jeff tweedy, ryan adams, and conor oberst.”

Jasen Ashdown - “I think probably the most heartfelt and real lyrics I have heard in a while.”

Kirsty from N. Ireland - “The lyrics are so honest and real, sometimes you find yourself wanting to yell, ‘yeah’ in agreement with what he’s saying. It brings singing and acoustic guitar to a new level.”

Craig Burnett - “It has all my favorite characteristics: transparency, honesty, risk, great songwriting, intimate performance.”

Jason Evans - “Ryan’s latest CD is poignant. You should get it.”