With Arrows, With Poise (Bonus Track Version)

iTunes Review

The Myriad’s approach to Christian alt-rock favors atmosphere over evangelism. With Arrows, With Poise, the Seattle band’s second album, uses indirection to drive home its points about spiritual blindness and the imminent presence of the divine. Front man Jeremy Edwardson sings with an insinuating croon that mocks the material world while hinting at his own nagging fears. Vague threats and unsettled emotions hang over “Grandfather Clock,” “Throwing Punches,” “Stuck in a Glass Elevator,” and similar tracks. Though the mood never quite gets sunny, songs like “A Thousand Winters Melting,” “The Holiest of Thieves,” and “Better than the Rest” offer hopeful glimpses of a higher world. Love — both mortal and otherwise — makes its presence known in the sleekly-contoured “A Clean Shot.” Spiky lead guitar and shimmering keyboards define the album’s sound, suggesting a blend of Radiohead, Mutemath, and the more angular aspects of Coldplay. Funky yet furtive grooves lend a disquieting twitch to “Polar Bears and Shark Fins” and “Forget What You Came For.” With Arrows, With Poise is a work of uneasy exaltation and fog-shrouded faith.