Combining a Rich Mullins style, appreciation for nature, and a Counting Crows/Bruce Hornsby vocal style, Maskil has composed ten quiet, contemplative songs on a disc that asks us to remember the love of God in our lives by the things He has done and the things He has made.
Lead singer Aaron Everitt croons on "Child of the West":
The rain is steady here and the rivers run
Dreams are so much bigger here in the land of the midnight sun
There's something different here, transforms your soul,
And you can't know me 'til this wind has blown through your clothes...
I believe in the air and the cold streams
And a God who's walked through my valley's winter snow
And summer rain, they've all been making me
As I've been shaped by the spaces out here...
"Hope to Know" is about looking for answers, whether in a bar, or a relationship, or in the Bible, and asks the question "don't you wish you could hold the faith that you hold in your mind?" The vocals here are a smoother Neil Young, or perhaps Ben Folds. Musically, the album is relaxed, mostly acoustic in nature, with a southern rock/alt country sensibility, featuring banjo, harmonica, and lap steel guitar.
"Big Horn Mountains" and "Canada Sky" both combine an appreciation for the scenery of travel with the trials of life. Hearing them makes me think of "Calling Out Your Name" by Rich Mullins, which I mean as the highest compliment. Vocally, "Canada" veers into James Taylor territory. "Central Time" features a Rusted Root-type of jam at the end.
Undeserved love is the topic of "Prodigal Son" which details the trouble a son can cause for both his family and for God, but they both still love him for what he is -- their child.
Any album that makes me think of Rich Mullins is going to get a high rating from me. The best thing I can say about Alta Products is that I would enjoy it even if it didn't remind me of anything else. Great music to travel by, or listen to on a rainy day.
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
ReAL Magazine 2001Reviewed by Kevin D. HendricksIt's hard to be honest when you're reviewing an album that has your name in the thank you's. Maskil is an independent folk band hailing from the Midwest. Aaron Everitt is the core of the band, which has been shaped in the past few years by a changing roster. I first saw Maskil perform in the most indie band of ways: they showed up to cap off an obscure talent show at a local college. At the time…Similar sounding releases
2002SpinozaThe Inevitable Movement Onward
2003John Mark McMillanHopeAnthologyVolumeOne
2003Screen DoorGreener
2002Jackson BrowneThe Naked Ride Home
2002OwenNo Good for No One Now
1999Bebo NormanTen Thousand Days
