Picked this album up on impulse because I've always loved those radio-friendly songs There She Goes and Kiss Me, which featured in the film She's All That and TV's Dawson's Creek.
There's something about this jangly American guitar band and their upbeat summer sound - plus singer Leigh Nash has that cutesy, girl-next-door voice that adds to the happy feel good factor that singles out Sixpence None The Richer.
Guitarist Matt Slocum is such a fantastic songwriter - he composed most of the tracks himself. I especially like the song The Lines Of My Earth with its haunting melody and lovely line "This is the last song that I write, 'til you tell me otherwise."
I don't know if the band are still going, as I haven't heard anything from them for ages, but I do hope so otherwise.
Beautiful album that I just can't stop playing.

If you're looking at this in hopes of finding 12 immediately catchy tunes like "Kiss Me", forget it...this is an album full of delicately textured modest somewhat folkish alterna-rock whose charms aren't immediately apparent. If you're willing to spend some time with Leigh Nash's childlike soprano and Matt Slocum's soundscapes though, it could be YOU that comes out the richer for it.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Besides the effervescent "Kiss Me", the brisk "I Can't Catch You" shows a man (Slocum does the writing primarily that Nash sings) who's struggling to discard past mistakes and really embrace intimacy with a new love, "Anything" is a bitter tirade about the music industry ("We're all told to dance, but we never picked the tune/Hanging like puppets, they feed us from bent steel spoons/But we're sealing our lips for the someday when the needle and the vinyl play all the songs of the pain/songs that explain all our circles and strains"), "The Waiting Room" is a look at the vagaries of existence in a world that's far from ideal ("Fight til' your fists bleed,baby/Beat the fate walls enclosing you/maybe God will unlock the cage of learning for you"). "Lines of my Earth" complains of a loss of creativity ("This is the last song that I write/until you tell me otherwise/and it's because I just don't feel it anymore") "Love", relegated to the B-side of the "Kiss Me" single when it was available, has perhaps the most intriguing imagery to describe spiritual reawakening, comparing the process to a "Harvester" who cuts open your skin to "plant a new beginning". Truly beautiful. SOME versions (it was re-issued with the song added after the first several runs of CDs) also contain a lovely version of 90s alterna-hit "There She Goes" (first done by the Las in a fairly similar rendition)

LOWS:
"Puedo Escribir" is obviously a stab at experimentalism and musically it's excellent. But for me, the Neruda poem set to music here seems a bit too pretentious. Reading it (in English) over a small "bridge" section as an intro to "I Can't Catch You" would have been plenty. In "We Have Forgotten", Leigh Nash sings a duet with herself and each voice has a different lyric. Having two voices of the exact same timbre and quality singing two different verses simultaneously makes it difficult to make out the words. Having Matt Slocum take the counterpoint probably would have alleviated that problem. "I Won't Stay Long"'s portrait of depression is a bit trite.

BOTTOM LINE:
This is NOT sunny pop..."Kiss Me" is an anomaly. But give this some time in your changer and it will begin to sink in. The best songs on here are NOT the radio fodder.

3 1/2 stars

I don't really understand all the 5- and 1-star reviews...because this album practically *screams* middle of the road. The only song that sticks out at all...other than Kiss Me, for obvious reasons...is the slightly (ever so) lively Puedo Escribir. Everything else is virtually interchangable. Nice and relaxing, but interchangable nonetheless.

I don't understand all the efforts to trump up or tear down Leigh Nash, either. Her singing voice is neither absolutely gorgeous (Des'ree, Loreena McKennitt, Sophie B. Hawkins, et al) or hideous (too many examples to count), just...okay, right there in the middle, like this album as a whole.

A few tiny steps toward Heaven, and a few toward Hell, but on the whole firmly planted on Earth (i.e. 3 stars). That's Sixpence None The Richer, both this album and the band as a whole, in a nutshell.

P.S. - I would like to reiterate that if you expect ANY of their other work to be anything like Kiss Me, you will be extremely disappointed (for reasons already stated).

This is a very good CD, it's a good buy and a save. you can find guitar tab, lyrics, drum tab, bass tab, e.t.c. online.
This is a good CD for inspiring band people, there are easy songs and easy music to this.

I will say that some of their songs such as one.. (not sure exactly what but..) "This is my 45 depressing tune" was not that great of a song.. some of the songs are ok, some are good.. it depends.

Personally, I reccomend this CD.

When I first heard Kiss Me, the tune was unforgettably etched into my mind. It had a cheery, light tune that was simply enchanting.

So I put the self-titled album from Sixpence None The Richer into my Amazon Wishlist, where it languished for several years. I finally bought it and had it delivered during my last trip to the US, and I wasn't disappointed.

The album remained true to the light catchy pop genre - nothing overtly religious even though the band started out with Christian music. I'm fond of Christian pop-bands, mostly because these song-writers seem closer to their music than the regular pop-commercial offerings. Matt Slocum does a great job of blending Leigh Nash's lilting vocals with intriguing lyrics and wrapping these in a compelling melody. That made for great listening.

Unfortunately, I've just found out that they have been disbanded. Too bad - they had a promising sound.

This genre might appeal to those who like Jars of Clay.