The Editor’s List, August 2008
Above the Golden State
A Christian rock band from Portland, Oregon, whose debut album came out on Sparrow Records in July 2008. Cove ranked its song second only to Third Day. Five years later the band was recording under another name.
The Cove archive desk · Compiled October 2026
Second on the list
“Loud and Clear”, credited to the album Above the Golden State, is No. 2 on the Christian chart of Cove’s August 2008 Editor’s List, and MusicBrainz confirms the track. Third Day, a much better-known band, held No. 1 and two more places lower down. No other debut album on that list was placed as high. Cove’s note on method: Songs are rated by the Editors of Cove Magazine. This list is by no means world wide, since albums selected are normally released only in North America.
At a glance
| Act | not stated on MusicBrainz |
|---|---|
| Origin | Portland, Oregon (Wikipedia) |
| Releases on MusicBrainz | 4 release groups, 2008–2013 |
| Earliest dated release listed | Above the Golden State (2008, album) |
| Label on that release | Sparrow Records |
| In Cove’s archive | The Editor’s List, August 2008 |
Discography
| First released | Title | Type | Label on first release |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-07-22 | Above the Golden State | Album | Sparrow Records |
| 2010-01-26 | The Golden Rule | EP | Sparrow Records |
| 2012-04-03 | Words Don't Act | EP | not listed |
| 2013 | Nations | Album | not listed |
MusicBrainz gives the act no type and no area, so the origin above comes from Wikipedia. The debut is dated 22 July 2008 in both sources. MusicBrainz gives the same date to 21:03’s Total Attention, two places below on Cove’s list. The sources disagree about the first EP. Wikipedia dates The Golden Rule to 1 January 2010, MusicBrainz to 26 January. They agree on Words Don’t Act, 3 April 2012.
From one name to another
Wikipedia records that the band changed its name to Nations and raised money for a second album, Nations, released in 2013. MusicBrainz files that album under the original name, which is why it appears in the table above. Wikipedia names the first single from the debut as “Sound of Your Name”. It also says the frontman, Michael Hughes Watson, began a solo career in 2018. We have not traced that solo work in MusicBrainz, so it has no table here.
Why the page exists
A band that released two albums and two EPs over five years and then renamed itself is exactly the kind of act the general reference sites cover in a paragraph. Cove covered it in one line on a list, and that line survived. Together the two are the documented record. Elsewhere on the same Christian list are Francesca Battistelli and pureNRG.
The debut, track by track
“Loud and Clear”, Cove’s pick, opens the record. “Sound of Your Name”, which Wikipedia names as the first single, is track 3.
| # | Track | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loud and Clear | 3:47 |
| 2 | Gaze into Your Eyes | 3:22 |
| 3 | Sound of Your Name | 3:26 |
| 4 | Streets | 4:40 |
| 5 | I'll Love You So | 3:09 |
| 6 | Comeback | 3:05 |
| 7 | Love | 3:42 |
| 8 | Chapter 13 | 1:34 |
| 9 | Scared | 3:25 |
| 10 | One Thirty-Nine | 3:58 |
| 11 | The Haunting | 4:48 |
| 12 | All My Heart | 4:01 |
| 13 | Reel to Reel | 3:32 |
Discography data: MusicBrainz (CC0), checked 26 October 2026. Dates are first-release dates as MusicBrainz records them; a release it does not list is not shown here. Background not held by MusicBrainz was confirmed against Wikipedia, checked 26 October 2026.
Also in Cove’s archive: Francesca Battistelli · pureNRG · all the new artists in Cove’s archive · the archive home page