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Ty Causey – Christmas Flow
Christmas Flow, the title of Ty Causey’s Christmas project, perfectly sums up Causey’s approach to music, as well as the progress of his career. Causey’s signature sound is ultra-smooth R&B with an ample helping of jazz, and the tunes have flowed from his pen pretty much consistently for the better part of a decade.
Causey did not deviate from that formula when he released his religious album, The Gospel Truth, in 2012, and the fact that Christmas is a holiday that touches on a variety of themes and emotions - in addition to the theological reason for the season - allows Causey to play to his strength by crafting tunes that address the romance, sentimentality and humor of the holiday while also singing songs that celebrate the birth of Christ. Those qualities make Christmas Flow one of 2015’s more enjoyable holiday albums.
Ty Causey – Christmas Flow
Christmas Flow, the title of Ty Causey’s Christmas project, perfectly sums up Causey’s approach to music, as well as the progress of his career. Causey’s signature sound is ultra-smooth R&B with an ample helping of jazz, and the tunes have flowed from his pen pretty much consistently for the better part of a decade.
Causey did not deviate from that formula when he released his religious album, The Gospel Truth, in 2012, and the fact that Christmas is a holiday that touches on a variety of themes and emotions - in addition to the theological reason for the season - allows Causey to play to his strength by crafting tunes that address the romance, sentimentality and humor of the holiday while also singing songs that celebrate the birth of Christ. Those qualities make Christmas Flow one of 2015’s more enjoyable holiday albums.
Tracks such as “Treasure for Life” and “Window Shoppin’” highlight Causey’s penchant for spinning new narratives from the archetypical holiday imagery. The former track finds Causey telling a story of a man who realizes that he stands to lose his most important gift on Christmas – his lady - and he enlists Santa’s help to ensure that doesn’t happen. “I must admit I been a little shady/I’m only human, but I miss my baby/How I long for her grits and gravy/Santa Claus can you find my lady?”
“Window Shoppin’” is a playful cut that finds Causey dealing with the consequences of not being able to say no to the financial requests of his lady. “It always happens around this time of year/She goes window shopping to spread a little Christmas cheer/It makes her happy to give to everyone she knows/But when she’s window shopping/There my money goes.”
Romance has always been a recurring theme in Causey’s music, and judging from the number of love stories with mistletoe as a backdrop and jewelry commercials that run during football games, the holidays and romance go hand in hand. With “Christmas Eve (Alone With You),” Causey crafted a ballad that can serve as the ideal soundtrack for that intimate Dec. 24 moment to give that perfect gift.
Christmas elicits a powerful desire to reconnect with family and friends, and tracks such as “Underneath The Christmas Tree” speak to the anticipation and desire for those special gifts that welled up in us well before Dec. 25. “All year long I tried to behave/Cuz Santa’s coming with gifts on his sleigh/He’s got some goodies and my special surprise/I’ve been waiting since the 4th of July.”
Ty Causey uses the final track on the album, “Jesus Is the Reason (The Good News),” to remind his listeners of that fact. This track finds him speaking to his listeners about the existence of God, and is as close as the vocalist comes to preaching. However, that is not the only explicitly religious tune on the album: “Let the World Rejoice,” which is the funkiest number on Christmas Flow, is a track that makes it plain that Jesus’ birth remains a joyous occasion.
Ty Causey acknowledges that he is not the kind of person who forces his belief on listeners. However, Christmas Flow is an enjoyable record that will appeal to a mass audience, even as it is made with the recognition that this holiday exists to honor the birth of Jesus Christ. It straddles that line nicely and delivers an album that makes the holidays that much brighter. Solidly Recommended.
By Howard Dukes