Worship Musician Magazine June 2021 | Page 38

NEW MUSIC forces and release Old Church Basement .

The big thirteen song album features the best worship leaders from both collectives including Brandon Lake , Tiffany Hudson , Chris Brown and Dante Bowe to name a few . The album is also a powerful reminder that honest worship has nothing to do with the size of your sound board or how new your building is , but rather on the importance we place on daily worshiping our God in spirit and truth .

Songs that really bring this point home are the title track which is more story song than worship anthem as Dante Brown relives the memories of a childhood spent praising God and youth group experiences in a dingy old church basement . The simple piano arrangement mixed with his gravelly gospel voice help drive home the point that when our hearts are truly focused on Jesus and praising Him with our lives , the method , style or location doesn ’ t matter to Him . The bridge is smartly written as he uses pieces from worship songs of old while completing each line with “ it ’ s just a part of a new melody ”.

Along a similar thematic vein is Brandon Lake ’ s “ Talking to Jesus ” which speaks of how God uses the influence of older adults to help shape our faith and how God calls us as parents and influential adults to teach the next generation to have a relationship with Jesus .

“ Names ” features the syrupy sweet voice of Tiffany Hudson as she creatively articulates God ’ s faithfulness through the many names of Jesus . The chorus is a congregationally friendly power ballad that I can ’ t wait for my church to sing .

This is a homerun of an album . I loved the consistent theme , creative song structure and writing throughout . The mixture of genre ’ s and different voices kept things interesting and there are a lot of great songs for you and your church here . Well done Elevation and Maverick City !

A few standout tracks include the victorious “ Who Am I ?” which lyrically highlights the unshakable love God has in our lives reminding us that our God never stops seeking us . The hymn-like “ If Not For Christ ” is the only guitarless track ( which gives a nice break from the up-tempo barrage of songs here ) and features a softer side of Brewster as he humbly sings of the sacrifice of Jesus that brought us righteousness . The mixture of piano and strings and Brewster ’ s airy tenor make this one of the best worship moments on the album .

Perfect Love finds is strength in the boppy energy and happy tempos throughout which is something the church needs after 18 months of dealing with a pandemic , but it is also where the album falls a bit short . I felt like there was rarely a break from the faster songs or anything musically different . Strangely enough , I really appreciated how short and to-the-point a lot of these songs were . In an overly saturated market where the average song length is more than 5 minutes , it was nice to see Brewster returning to basics of song structure , arrangement and length .

I would not say that this was Brewster ’ s strongest lyrical album , but there are plenty of great Sunday morning friendly anthems that make this worth multiple listens .

Gerod Bass Worship leader in Tacoma , WA . Mentor with Worship Catalyst . Singer , songwriter , guitarist with a passion for impacting lives for the sake of the Gospel . www . oslc . com

38 June 2021 Subscribe for Free ...