This Beautiful Mess

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/this-beautiful-mess-mw0000645037 |title=This Beautiful Mess – Sixpence None the Richer |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=June 27, 2024 |first=Melinda |last=Hill}}

| rev2 = Cross Rhythms

| rev2score = 10/10{{cite magazine |url=https://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/products/Sixpence_None_The_Richer/This_Beautiful_Mess/1419/ |title=Sixpence None The Richer – This Beautiful Mess |magazine=Cross Rhythms |issue=30 |date=December 1995 – January 1996 |access-date=April 28, 2024 |first=Mike |last=Rimmer}}

}}

At the time of the album's release, Sixpence None the Richer were stereotyped as both an indie band and a Christian band, which led to This Beautiful Mess receiving relatively little in the way of attention from the secular or "mainstream" music industries{{cite web |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-gospel-according-to-sixpence-none-the-richer/ |title=The Gospel According to Sixpence None the Richer |publisher=TexasMonthly |date=November 1999 |access-date=April 28, 2024 |first=Jason |last=Cohen}}{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9809/22/sixpence/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020628041832/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9809/22/sixpence/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 28, 2002 |title=Modern rock's Sixpence finding success among stereotypes |publisher=CNN |date=September 22, 1998 |access-date=April 28, 2024 |first=Jamie |last=Allen}} — the band's lead vocalist, Leigh Nash, stated during a 1999 interview, "we really knocked ourselves out for [This Beautiful Mess] and it didn’t really go anywhere."{{cite web |url=https://news.pollstar.com/1999/06/07/sixpence-none-the-richer/ |title=Sixpence None The Richer |date=June 7, 1999 |access-date=April 28, 2024 |publisher=Pollstar}} — although the attention it did receive was generally positive. The magazine Cross Rhythms highly praised it, saying "This, their second (proper) album, has been eagerly awaited and does not disappoint.", and AllMusic gave a moderately favorable review with particular praise going to the songs "Within a Room, Somewhere", calling it "one of the strongest songs of the album," and "Melting Alone," which "keenly expresses the pain of loneliness."

However, following the release of their eponymous album in 1997 and the explosion in popularity of the song "Kiss Me" in 1999, the band began to gather a much larger following outside of the Christian music industry.{{cite web |url=http://www.popentertainment.com/sixpence.htm |title=Sixpence None the Richer: There She Goes |date=1999 |access-date=April 28, 2024 |first=Jay S. |last=Jacobs}} Accordingly, in the years since, This Beautiful Mess has also received more, mostly positive, attention. Alan Parish penned an opinion piece for the online blog Medium, in which he detailed the profound impact the album had on his life, writing, "It was the best complete album I had ever heard, and to this day I consider it my favorite album of all time. [...] The internal emotions and thoughts this album spurred in me gave me a confidence and self-worth I had never before experienced."{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/chrindie-95/sixpence-none-the-richers-this-beautiful-mess-5793834b1b9c |title=This Beautiful Mess |publisher=Medium |date=February 15, 2015 |access-date=April 28, 2024 |first=Alan |last=Parish}} Jesus Freak Hideout noted that the album was a step up from their previous work and that the addition of three new members since then made Sixpence None the Richer "a full band," and ultimately summarized the album as "a must for fans of 90s alternative rock, and jangle pop, and those digging deeper into the history of Contemporary Christian Music."{{cite web |url=https://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/cdreviews/ThisBeautifulMess.asp |title=Sixpence None the Richer: This Beautiful Mess |date=August 17, 2023 |access-date=April 28, 2024 |first=Josh |last=Balogh}}

{{track listing

| headline = CD

| all_writing = Matt Slocum, except where noted

| total_length = 49:39

| title1 = Angeltread

| writer1 =

| length1 = 3:28

| title2 = Love, Salvation, the Fear of Death

| writer2 = Slocum, James Arhelger

| length2 = 3:51

| title3 = Bleeding

| writer3 =

| length3 = 5:04

| title4 = Within a Room Somewhere

| writer4 =

| length4 = 5:06

| title5 = Melting Alone

| writer5 =

| length5 = 4:03

| title6 = Circle of Error

| writer6 =

| length6 = 5:04

| title7 = The Garden

| writer7 = Slocum, Arhelger, Dale Baker, Leigh Bingham

| length7 = 4:03

| title8 = Disconnect

| writer8 = Tess Wiley

| length8 = 4:20

| title9 = Thought Menagerie

| writer9 =

| length9 = 3:11

| title10 = Maybe Tomorrow

| writer10 =

| length10 = 4:22

| title11 = Drifting

| writer11 =

| length11 = 3:42

| title12 = I Can't Explain

| writer12 =

| length12 = 3:25

}}

• Leigh Nash – vocals
• Matt Slocum – guitars, cello
• Tess Wiley – guitars, vocals
• J.J. Plasencio – bass
• Dale Baker – drums

Production

• Armand John Petri – producer, engineer, mixing
• Bryan Lenox – basic track engineer, mixing
• Scott Lenox – assistant engineer
• Aaron Swihart – assistant engineer
• Tyler Bacon – executive producer
• Gavin Morkel – executive producer
• Duncan Stanbury – mastering
• Jeff Spencer – digital prepress, design assistant at Nosegrind Creative
• Kim Thomas – cover painting
• Chris Taylor – title
• Ben Pearson – photography

{{reflist}}

{{Sixpence None the Richer}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Sixpence None the Richer albums

Category:1995 albums

Category:R.E.X. Records albums