Kim Gentes

Woah! Worship music redefined? With the last 10 years, what has been defined as a "worship album" has become a moving target. Well friends, the target has just moved again. Hillsong United's "Zion" departs from the stadium anthems and deep grooved choruses of their previous albums and the standard mix of the 4/5 piece "praise band" is traded in for electronics, pop-production ballads and an "Owl City"-esque layering of arrangements. Even the vocals are pulled back to set the songs into an artistic place never before seen on any Hillsong (United or otherwise) project. Experimental electronica, orchestral pad swells, breathy solo vocals, deep reverb and loop-timed guitar arpeggios all make this recording seem an almost surreal departure for Hillsong United. 

I found this a very unique album to get used to. Because it is much more of an initial listening experience than a typical "worship album", you might be tempted to start listening for "usable songs"- but taking that approach won't work, at least not initially. What you must do with this album is listen to it 4 or 5 times first- just sit. Listen. After the songs go through your head and heart enough times, you will find yourself really loving this project. Then, you are ready. Listen through it again for what might be songs that could fit and work in your local context. There will be some, perhaps several. But take the time.

So much of this album sounds like something new, literally every track is worth a listen. The album starts like a euro-pop 80's hit radio barrage with front track "Relentless" leading into a beat driven chorus of

Your love is relentless
Your love is relentless

Track two, "Up In Arms" beckons to more European sounds with whistles and pipes bubbling over drum cadence, and while gradually flowing into full refrains it infectiously implants the melody in your head long before the song ends (that is despite this song's vague, aimless and scattered lyrical themes). "Scandal of Grace" is a 6/8 departure with acoustic guitar only intro on a parched dry vocal- but once again, this builds eventually into an "all in" chorus.

When I hit "Oceans" I found myself weeping in surrendered prayer along with the song, as Taya Smith sang against a backdrop of stripped down pads and electronic drums. With a Leigh Nash-esque style, her vocals lilt and soar to make this song a poweful ocean of experience and prayer. Really, really good.

And so this album goes.. ranging from songs that sound like 80's euro-pop to modern day acoustic, unplugged. Stops made along the way will range across sounds like more organic bands such as "City Harmonic" and "Rend Collective Experiment" to electronica "Owl City".  And while there is a definite thread of electronica loops and tones that sow this album together, its clear that the Hillsong United crew was looking to step completely out of the "worship rock" world their youth concerts are known for. Even the end of the album keeps throwing twists your way- from the stripped back piano ballad of "King of Heaven", the John Mark McMillan styled "Arise", to the overdriven bass on "Mountain" that leads into a few big choruses.

For myself, my three favorite tracks on this project are "Oceans", "Scandal of Grace" (both previously mentioned) and "A Million Suns" (track 10), whose strange 70's cheesy organ sound blithely tags the song sections into a surprisingly well scripted lyrical adoration of

Jesus the First, the Last,
the Bright and Morning Star

In sum, this album is a brilliant musical exploration of what worship groups and songwriters can do when the "limitations" are taken off. There is much to like here and, excepting the directionless lyrical approach of "Up In Arms", the rest of the album not only scores strongly on musical vibrancy and enjoyment, but lands some solid songs that (perhaps re-arranged) could find their way into youth groups and Sunday morning worship services.  You must listen to this album. It is truly unique and truly a gift.

For churches using WorshipTeam.com, all of the songs, chord charts, lyrics and audio are already available and pre-loaded for you in the WorshipTeam.com system song database. If you are not part of WorshipTeam.com and want to listen to audio samples or purchase the album directly yourself, see the Amazon link below.

Advent is not a word you hear outside of traditional and denominational Christian settings a lot.  But as the recent millenium has brought so many changes, we see much of the non-traditional and non-liturgical church groups reaching into the ancient traditions of the Christian church and mining the wisdom of our forebearers in the faith. Advent literally means "coming" and refers to the season of weeks that precede the celebrated birth of Christ and God's coming earth in the flesh as the Emmanuel (literally "God with us").  The Advent as a Christian season of reverence and anticipation was only exceeded in importance by the reflective season of Lent that leads up to the holy week of the death and resurrection of Christ.

Musical worship of advent often focuses on the anticipation of the coming savior, the light rising in the darkness of this world, and preparation of our hearts for His appearing.  It is in that spirit that the recent EP "Light Has Come" seems to present it’s finely crafted songs for the Advent season.

WorshipTogether releases the "Light Has Come" EP with six modern worship songs that focus on the light, hope, glory and joy of the advent season not by headlining it with artists. Instead it chose to release a compact collection of very focused songs from its songwriters, keeping the arrangements and presentation accessible and reproducible for churches.  Recorded crisply, but with the songs as the focus, one gets the idea this was meant more as a resource to churches coming to Advent than to consumers looking for radio hits.

In fact, even the keys and arrangements of the songs flow seamlessly from one song to another. I was able to sit down with my guitar and play along with each and every song the first time through. Five of the 6 songs were keyed either in F or C (very complimentary keys), making it great to use these songs together in a worship set.

Let’s dive into the songs.

The first song "Let The World Sing Gloria" is a modern song rendering language and context for the traditional phrase "Gloria in excelsis Deo" (which is Latin for "Glory to God in the highest"). Musically, it is an ebbing verse, vaulting chorus and rising bridge which brings the ancient phrase to life.  Melodic, well written lyrics and hook laden chorus, this is the best song on the EP. You really should consider this song for the upcoming season- it is excellent!

"Newborn King" is the second track and gives a medium tempo groove to celebrating the coming of the Christ child. Again the musical affinity is crisply acoustic/rock and easy to incorporate into a modern worship set. The lyrics continue to be the language of advent and anticipatory Christmas season. Another good candidate for your Sunday mornings.

The title track "Light Has Come" is a country-ish sounding ballad that reminds me of something from Vineyard Music's "roots worship" sound with Ryan Delmore- somewhere between acoustic/pop and Mumford & Sons. Lyrically, the song focuses a modern spin on the story of Jesus' light come to the broken and weak of our earthly society and bringing God's glory through such humility.

Track five is the pop-driven "End of Exile", the most progressive recording on this collection. Well done, this song soars on power-chords flooding the chorus. It is comprised of a terse lyrical style, leaving lithe phrases such as its compact chorus:

Glorious miracle here is the end of exile
God the invisible flooding the world with light

Definitely a song to look at for the Advent season.

I will leave tracks 4 and 6 to the reader to discover, as they are laid out simply and clearly in easily reproduced arrangements and keys.

Overall, I found the Advent EP "Light Has Come" to be delightful. I especially loved tracks 1, 2 and 5, as noted above and would recommend them to any church looking for new music for the season.  

"Light Has Come" find it at Amazon or iTunes

For those who use online planning, you can also find the songs from this album, the full audio, chord charts and lyrics online in WorshipTeam.com.

If you are wondering where you might find some great new songs for the Christmas/Advent season, and you are in contemporary worship context, you should definitely consider the songs on this new album from WorshipTogether, "Light Has Come".

worshiping Him!

Kim Gentes

I first heard of Vicky Beeching from the landmark Vineyard UK CD "Hungry", where her song "There Is No One Like Our God" appeared in the track list. Later, in 2002, the release of another Vineyard UK project, "Holy", included her popular song "Above All Else". This year, Vicky has come to fruition as a songwriter and worship leader with her new release "Yesterday, Today & Forever". This is a clean, crisp studio project with a mirthful combination of church-usable worship songs with radio-playable production.

What you notice right off about this CD is that it has perfect production sensibility for each song, elevating the arrangements for the anthemic songs and paring down to simplicity for the beautiful, haunting songs of intimacy. In fact, it took me a long time to detach from engaging in the worship music contained on this CD, to allow me to listen critically to the various components of production and songwriting it contained.
From the title track "Yesterday, Today & Forever", you will not be able to sit idly by as this project rolls on. You will be singing or humming your way through, and this is good. And this is not just because the music is interesting, but also because the lyrics have a beautiful balance and deep content to them such as the second verse to her opening
track:

Uncreated One,
You have no end and no beginning
Earthly power fades,
But there is no end to Your Kingdom
Always loving, always true,
Always merciful and good, so good.

Vicky's writing has a conscious balance of awe-filled, glory expression (songs like "Yesterday, Today & Forever," "Above All Else" and "Majesty and Mystery") and prayer and surrender songs ("Search Me", "Nothing Is Impossible" and "Extravagant Worship"). Her lyrical content is solidly scripture-based, while be obviously passionate and personal. A bit of background information on Vicky helps with understanding some of this lyrical depth, when I found out she is has a theology degree from Oxford University. Along with her competent acoustic guitar prowess and pristine voice, she certainly has a wealth of skills to draw from in writing and presenting her songs of devotion.

Listening through the CD, you will have a hard time not closing your eyes and surrendering your heart, if you sing along with honesty to the song "Above All Else". I still find myself in tears when I say those words from my heart. In this same vein, "Captivated" is aptly named as the song allows you to consider the Lord and be captivated by his beauty. This CD playlist is a wonderful washing of music and lyrics, bringing in waves of cresting celebration songs, accentuated with ebbs of deep worship songs. For me, the most memorable part of the CD is the last 3 songs, where we go from being captivated by His glory, to the 6/8 swing of surrender in "Extravagant Worship" and ends with a beautiful re-envisioning of the classic "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus".

Because of the variety of tempo and arrangements across these songs, this is not a CD that will grow tired quickly in your player. Be sure to check it out- you will not be disappointed.

Product Link Yesterday Today & Forever

Review by Kim Gentes

I remember getting my original copies of the UK released Cutting Edge CDs in the mail. Cardboard jackets with plastic inset trays for the CD. They were sent to me from a friend at EMI CMG. They were working on a launch the new Delirious? website to promote them in the US and I was helping with some online marketing and giving feedback on songs for a 3 song promo demo CD. It was 1996. I remember listening to great songs like Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?, Find Me In The River and Happy Song. Wow. Unlike anything I had heard on a "worship" recording.

Then I heard I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever. I knew, in that moment, that "church music" had changed. Songs, they say, can have a life of their own. When songs can communicate something so relevant that we all want to join in, but say it in a unique way that awakens our emotions, those songs become "ours". As I listened to I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever, tears began to roll down my face. I was singing that song because it was truth captured in well-crafted art. Within a year, millions of other people across North America would learn that song and join in. It became an anthem of God's love for many of us.

The Cutting Edge CDs were eventually released in the US in 1998 as a double CD. Cutting Edge not only impacted worshipers and leader across the world, they inspired other writers. I remember a year or so earlier at a worship conference, Brian Doerksen talking about how he was being inspired by these same UK songs from early EP versions of the CDs he had gotten while in UK.  He was impacted, as were we were all impacted by what Martin Smith and crew brought to church music. Today, it's hard to imagine modern worship without the profound impact of these songs and the breakout sound of the band.

The songs on this collection are recorded crisp, clear and in the studio. While Delirious? would become known for their layered U2-esque sound, Cutting Edge highlighted arrangements that were brilliant more for their sparse intention than their "wall of sound" attack.  If you are one of those people who didn't get a copy of the Cutting Edge double CD, make sure to check out the CD on Amazon, or get the entire 25 song MP3 album there for a fraction of the cost.

These songs and this album are now classic, but remain some of the most popular songs in modern hymnody.

Product Link :  Cutting Edge (Double Album) and Delirious? - Cutting Edge (Songbook)

Review by Kim Gentes