Mormon youth do a lot of neat things. From Eagle Scout and Personal Progress projects to maintaining Church standards, being young and Mormon is a unique experience and, like so many Mormon stories, is best explained by the youth themselves. Two teens, musically precocious sisters Sierra and Jenessa Mylroie, are a couple more of those amazing Mormon Youth working to tell their stories through song. Their accomplishment? A cd, Of Precious Value, of entirely new music inspired by the Young Women Values.
The tracks sport a pop/folk sound with the occasional rock tune. Light and airy, this is music (written by the girls and their father, Matt Mylroie) that desires to uplift and inspire. The vocals by both girls are a nice blend of the standard EFY/Felicia Sorenson sound with a little Regina Spektor thrown in. And, while occasionally tinny, there is just enough earnestness to keep the overall sound pleasing.
Take for example the song, “Fly Soar Believe”. Based on a poem written by Jenessa, this 50s retro-pop song is an anthem for the uniqueness of Mormon teenagers. “I’m a little quirky and I like it that way/ I march to my own beat every day,” the song starts out. Then the chorus rings out, “Fly, soar, believe. /Be everything that I want to be. /Live, laugh, love. /My life CAN be what I dream of.” There’s hope and a sort of altruism that seems to only belong to teens with strong faith in those lyrics.
While aimed at teens, I think where this album can be most successful is with the Mormon tween market–where there is a real dearth of products. Too old for “Popcorn Popping” and Scripture Scouts but too young for Jenny Jordan Frogley and John Bytheway, LDS kids ages 9-12 might really respond to the pop strains on Of Precious Value. There is so much heart in this music, even parents might enjoy it too!
A Motley Vision 
Thanks for doing the review of our music, we appreciate it very much. We have fans as young as 5 years old and as old as 77 – we think just about anybody will find at least one song on this project that they’ll really enjoy and we really appreciate you sharing this with your followers!
I have no doubt that this is a market that needs some attention, but I have to say that I was hoping for a little more nuance in the lyrics.
Matt–it was a fun project to review!
Wm–well, the tween market isn’t known for nuance so I’m not sure what you are expecting. There were a couple songs on that cd that sounded like they could have come straight out of a Barbie movie. . .
At the very least, I’d expect to not use “Reason” as a bad thing. I fully agree that the learned who think they are wise is a problem and that sophistry is lame. But Mormons aren’t (or at least shouldn’t be) anti-Reason.
How did they come off as anti- reason? I thought it was great