Sixpence None The Richer

Good things have a way of happening in the nick of time. Just when you’re ready to accept the inevitable, you make the best of the situation and settle for second best. That’s exactly when the unexpected springs a surprise, everything changes and a bounty suddenly blossoms in the unlikeliest of places.

Take Divine Discontent, the long-awaited new album from Sixpence None The Richer. A collection of twelve original tracks from a band who has almost single-handedly redefined the embracing and uplifting potential of pop music. Divine Discontent is an album that has happened along just when we need it most. Like a breath of fresh air, a beam if sunlight or a long sip of cool water, here’s music meant precisely for this moment.

That moment has been a long time coming. While it may seem like just yesterday that this sparkling Nashville-based quartet swept onto the scene with their breakthrough self-titled album – featuring the Grammy-nominated number one hit “Kiss Me” and its smash follow-up “There She Goes” – it was actually in the late Nineties when they first burst onto the spotlight, embarking on a continent-hopping world tour that would keep them on the road for over a year. What followed was a well-deserved rest for a group who had been steadily at work for the better part of a decade. It was in the spring of 2000 that Sixpence returned to the studio to begin recording new material. What followed was…a long silence.

“We’re getting used to it,” remarks vocalist Leigh Nash wryly of the contractual wrangles that delayed the release of Divine Discontent for nearly two years. “We were in the same situation earlier in our career, waiting for lawyers and accountants to decide our fate, and we’ve learned to be patient. Our music always seems to find its own time and place, and this s no different.”

The machinations that saw the group go through three separate label affiliations before finding a welcome home on Reprise Records might have brought down a less determined band, but Sixpence None The Richer not only survived – they thrived. Hardly idle during this enforced hiatus, lead singer Leigh Nash, along with co-founder and chief songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Matt Slocum, embarked on a variety of promising side projects.

“I had an opportunity to record with Delerium,” Leigh explains, “which was a lot of fun and a real change of pace for me.” The resulting track, “Innocente (Falling In Love)” reached the Top Five on the Billboard Dance Charts in the spring of 2001 and was followed by additional guest appearances for the distinctive vocalist, including a rollicking rendition of the Skeeter Davis classic “The End Of The World” with alt-rock heroes Los Straitjackets. Leigh had also recorded “Need To Be Next To You,” the end title track to the Gwyneth Paltrow/Ben Affleck film Bounce. That song also hit the Top 20 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Charts.

Meanwhile, Matt had lent his energies to the formation of The East Nashville Center for the Creative Arts, an innovative community arts school and performance venue offering music instruction to promising young local talent. “Music has provided so many opportunities in my own life that I felt it was important to give something back,” Matt remarks. “The school is a great way to help kids who otherwise might not get a chance to develop their abilities.”

In the interim, Sixpence None The Richer continued the creative evolution that has defined its sound over the course of their previous three albums. The original quartet, which included guitarist Sean Kelly and bassist Justin Cary, had been augmented with new drummer Rob Mitchell and keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden, both of whom were on hand for the original recording sessions of Divine Discontent. Matt served as co-producer along with Paul Fox, renowned for his work with XTC, the Sugarcubes, 10,000 Maniacs, The Wallflowers and others. Mixing chores were handled by maestro Tom Lord-Alge.

“We were going for more of a band feel,” Matt explains. “The six of us all played together in the studio and we kept the overdubs to a minimum. Even later, when we added the string sections, we wanted to maintain a live sound. It was a very organic process.”

Leigh added it was also a time when they came to terms with the extraordinary success of their last album. “Of course you can’t help but feel the pressure to keep the momentum. But in the end, creating something which we felt good about was our only priority.”

The issue of momentum came front and center as contractual negotiations dragged on but, in typical fashion, the group made the most of the delays. “Earlier this year we went back into the studio to freshen up the material and record some additional tracks,” explains Leigh. Among four newly recorded songs is “Down And Out Of Time” which, along with “Eyes Wide Open,” is a pair of cuts written solely by the singer. “Matt sets a high songwriting standard,” she notes, “but at the same time, I’ve learned so much from him.”

From the evidence of Divine Discontent, the lesson to be learned from Sixpence’s infectious and accessible sound is that great pop music can carry real time messages of love and loss, fear and faith, both personal and universal. “There’s spiritual content in a lot of my songs,” reveals Matt. “It comes from trying to be honest about the issues of life. But it also comes more in the form of asking questions than giving answers.”

From the revealing, richly textured opening notes of the debut single “Breathe Your Name,” to such extraordinary tracks as “Waiting On The Sun,” “Tonight,” “A Million Parachutes” and the abovementioned “Eyes Wide Open,” Divine Discontent is as polished and assured as it is honest and heartfelt; a fitting follow-up to its platinum predecessor and the leading indicator of a bright future for a band that knows the best things come to those who wait.

Happily, for the worldwide fans of Sixpence None The Richer, the wait is over.