NEW MUSIC
[ SELECTIVE HEARING | Robert Berman ]
AUDREY ASSAD SKYE PETERSON
Evergreen Tell Me Again
something extra-special. Assad’s own luminous
voice remains as longing and expressive as
ever, a welcome balm for all seeking refuge
in the God who knows the answers that
we do not.
ANDREW OSENGA
The Painted Desert
“How do I grieve what I can’t let go? It’s got a They grow up so quickly! Skye has been
hold on me.” Coming out of what she calls an a staple in concert appearances with her
“irrational season of doubt” sparked by distress father Andrew Peterson for years. But play
for suffering people around the world, and this for your friends, and they’ll have a hard
especially in her ancestral home of war-torn time believing that these tracks were written
Syria, Assad sings with renewed conviction in and performed by someone too young for a
the truths on which she bases her life. learner’s permit.
As on her 2016 album, Inheritance, classic
Okay, she has a little help from producer Greg
hymnody echoes through these songs. “Drawn One of today’s most consistently satisfying LaFollette, and Ellie Holcomb dropped by for
to You” quotes “Christ the Solid Rock.” The songwriters shows his worth yet again on this a duet, but the heart of this album is all Skye.
exquisite “Immanuel’s Land” retunes Anne eleven song meditation on the stuff of real life.
Cousin’s 1854 poem “The Sands of Time Are
She’s dealing with teen troubles (“In my
Sinking.” The joyous “The Joy of the Lord” “Beautiful Places” describes a child’s ash- mind, I see everyone’s worth, except mine.
even ends with a few rounds of the children’s scattering trek to a Canadian vista special Can nobody see that I’m here? Where did
chorus “I’ve Got a River of Life.” “Little Things to his deceased father. “Year of the Locust” everybody go?” on “Lost Dog”) and the
with Great Love” and “Teresa” pay tribute to builds on the redemptive promise of Joel 2:25. challenges of owning Christian faith (“I want
the compassion of Calcutta’s most famous “Worry” challenges us about the times that to know that He is calling, and to know that
aid worker. “we hide in busyness and keep pretending He is here even when I cannot see him, and
that we trust the hand of God.” “Cary” I’m in despair.” on “Tell Me Again”; “When I
Piano remains Assad’s primary instrumental describes a neighbor who broke the cycle have tried to look for You, You always seem
tone, but accompanied this time around by of child abuse. “Restore to me the joy of my to hide, leaving me alone and stranded” on
more sequenced percussion and spacious salvation,” Osenga whispers in “Still Waters.” “Lonely World”). Acoustic guitar and piano
synths than usual. Penultimate track “Mercy” rings true with the predominate,
thoughts of someone who has known both Love” has U2 atmospherics and some
failure and forgiveness. millennial “Woahs.”
the contemplative and somberly shimmering, Acoustic guitars predominate, with languorous Fans of Sara Groves and Audrey Assad will
but much-in-demand rapper Propaganda adds electric lines floating intermittently over the want to follow this unfolding career; the sky
an unexpected but welcome edge to the trance top, free of percussion, achieving a sonic is the limit.
track “River.” Gospel singer Jason Eskridge effect somewhere between The Innocence deserves special mention for elevating “The Mission and Elliott Smith.
Co-produced by Assad with Bryan Brown and
though
EP
opener
“Your
Ben Shive, most of the tracks gravitate toward
Joy of the Lord” and “Wounded Healer” into
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March 2018
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