Gable Price And Friends – The Consequence Of Being Alive

Capitol CMG

Release Date: November 11th 2022

Reviewed by: Joshua Andre

Gable Price And Friends– The Consequence Of Being Alive (Amazon mp3/iTunes)

Track Listing:

Upside
Brother Jack
Tough Love
I Love To Struggle
Treason
I Don’t Wanna Live Like This
Jesus Christ (Hold Me Steady)
How It Sets You Free (feat. Jon Foreman)
Lucky #17
Easy To Love You
The Consequences Of Being Alive

Reflective, introspective music and myself haven’t always gelled that well. Apart from personal, honest, and emotional worship and Christian music; sometimes hearing a mellow track that doesn’t explicitly speak about Jesus, doesn’t actually resonate with me right away. Normally with songs other than ‘Christian’ songs, it takes a while for me to be fully immersed into the message and heart of slower, reflective, mid-tempo ballads (inclusive of artists like John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Jewel and Sarah McLachlan). It’s different with upbeat pop songs, as you’re dancing and toe tapping away to the catchy beat. And you’re possibly not even intentionally listening to the lyrics. But with songs that have less of a radio format; these tracks aren’t that polished and hence not as engaging from first listen. Yet over the past few months, and even up to a year + ago, I’ve been inspired and moved from the get-go by an artist who on the whole is reflective, contemplative, and introspective in nature. They do not sing about the parties and the good times we can experience in this life; but rather this artist speaks about matters beyond the natural. Colony House, who we have blogged about a few years ago here; have released 4 full-length albums, and each speak about heartfelt, personal, relatable and relevant topics- ranging from love, life, God, death, relationships, our inner psyche, the human condition and everything in between.

Similar to Needtobreathe, Skillet, Switchfoot, for KING & COUNTRY and up-and-coming sibling trio Echosmith in theme, musicality and lyrical content; Colony House have toiled and toiled and toiled. And as an opinion, I firmly believe that there is no other album to inspire, to comfort, to encourage, to provide hope to us in this time, than Colony House’s January 2020 album- their third project Leave What’s Lost Behind, produced by Ben Shive. We reviewed the album here; as well as their 2021 EP Rotten Tomatoes. Colony House also released a brand new album this year, which we reviewed, called The Cannonballers. But… we’re not here to talk about Colony House. These guys are seasoned veterans, but there’s another band that is identical in terms of lyrics and sound, that released a stellar album last year. Gable Price And Friends aren’t flashy at all. But if you love Colony House and all they represent, then you’ll definitely love Gable and his band. Their songs in their label debut album the Consequences of Being Alive ring true and hit your soul. They’re the band that you might not like from first listen. But I can guarantee you- from multiple listens to this album, I’m positive that this project will be one of your favourites of 2022- that’s how resounding and impacting it was for me.

Considering that this ‘review’ of sorts is around 8 months late (due to many factors, and just life in general!), I’m not even going to attempt to review this album- simply because uit’s not timely and who wants to read a review of something that is more than 6 months old? That’s the era we live in- everyone wanting everything instantaneously. Besides, other sites like Jesus Freak Hideout and I Am Tuned Up do a stellar job at conveying every intricate detail of the album and the emotions and feelings it delivers to us. I don’t know much about Gable Price nor the previous albums. But that’s the beauty of jumping in blind into something you have no expectations of. For me, The Consequence Of Being Alive is full of vitality and power and reflectiveness and yearning for God. It’s just not packaged in a neat, nice, bow. JFH wrote a pretty ‘negative’ review of the album- and if you’re a longtime fan of this group, I guess you might see merit in that review. But I reckon that these guys are only going where God is leading them into; and these ‘vague’ and ‘ambiguous’ lyrics can serve them all well in mainstream media. Perhaps these guys can be like Skillet or Switchfoot and minister to the mainstream?

Songs like “Upside”, “Brother Jack”, “I Don’t Wanna Live Like This”, “Jesus Christ (Hold Me Steady)”, “How It Sets You Free”, “Easy To Love You”, and the title track, all resonate with me deeply, and with the album being written and released against the backdrop of COVID-19, and all of the many opinions around that; Gable released this album and sung about a whole lot more topics other than Jesus. If you consider Gable’s previous more vertically theme worship projects, this album may sound like a misstep. But these guys are following what Jesus has called them to do, and for that, we shouldn’t begrudge them for following their heart and their passion. For me there’s no fault with this album (but it does require many listens to grasp the lyrical content and understand the many themes!). Probably the only nitpick is that the album sounds like something from Colony House- but that’s neither here nor there. Other than that, it’s actually one of the most impactful and hopeful albums of 2022! As we are glimpsed into one of the finest storytelling pieces of just pure art- that will live on and on and on in the hearts of many; if you’re not a fan of Gable Price and his friends by the end of this exquisite listening experience, then you probably never will be! Gable has created something special here, and something to be proud of. So, jump on the band wagon, everyone… I think I’ve convinced you all enough! Well done guys, I can’t wait to hear what’s next in store for you!

There’s a lot of micro factors, but I would say overall, I am just in a significantly different life stage than our previous albums/EPs. I was a bright eyed 19 year old in a ministry school when I started the band.

A lot has changed in the last year even. I got married to my beautiful wife, Edita. I am 3 years out of school, I had multiple large career changes, and many friendships come and go. I like to pride myself on writing songs that are accurate to my present feelings, and writing an album about my wife, about my joys, struggles, and pains felt significantly more life-giving, and honest than trying to recreate our first album. Thankfully it’s seemed like our fanbase and beyond has embraced the change whole heartedly.

I love referring to “The Kool Aid,” [in “I Don’t Wanna Live Like This”] because I feel like everyone pictures a certain group of people, or an organization, or something they consider to be “drinking the Kool Aid.” It’s funny to me because everyone thinks of something different from the next person, and I think that’s fascinating.

I think that song is just about going through life unscathed by bitterness. I can disagree with things, I can change the way I do things, but I don’t wanna leave this life full of bitterness, and all I ever did was hate on things. And as far as the Kool aid I’m referring to, I’ll leave it up to the listeners interpretation.

In terms of the relationship between my spirituality and my music, I think music is a very spiritual thing. The beauty of interpretation leaves a lot of room for people to receive these songs in a spiritual way, but also to receive them in a very human way. I never want to tell someone that they can’t relate a love song I wrote to their spiritual practice. I think for me, writing an album about my wife, my life and the contrasts that come with it, felt spiritual in and of itself even though every song wasn’t designed for a CCM audience like prior releases were.

For me, writing a song that doesn’t carry rawness and honesty sounds fairly unfulfilling. While it feels vulnerable and a tad naked to put out songs that are very open and honest about where I’m at mentally, spiritually, and just as a human. It feels so much more significant than making something universally agreeable.

It’s been a beautiful exploration. Like you stated earlier, we come from a spiritual background. I would say the most vulnerable part of these last two years was writing songs that I knew would receive a tad of pushback due to straying from the overtly spiritual lyricism we used in prior release. Thankfully the majority of our listeners and new listeners are onboard with the change. And for the minority of listeners that preferred the more spiritual content, we totally understand.

The album is meant to show every human emotion, and the importance of each. I hope the listener feels incredibly human. Joy is beautiful and euphoric because we know pain. Pain has its particular sting, because we know joy. Everything is contrast, and I find that beautiful.

My hope is that by the end of listening to this record, that comfort that you referred to is felt. A comfort in the grief, a comfort in the joy, a comfort in the laughter, and a comfort in the tears.