“Good fruit demands a good tree” (J. H. Jowett)
The World is Waking Limited Edition
Artist: Unspoken (www.unspoken.com)
Label: Centricity Music
Length: 10 tracks/34 minutes
What surprised me about The World is Waking by Unspoken are the soulful vocals of lead
singer Chad Mattson. His tone and style remind me of Jimmy Needham. The R&B
influence adds distinction to the band’s pop/rock sound.
The opening “Lift My Life Up,” summarizes the sense of
abandon that ties the release together. The album clearly points to God as
being the source of every need and celebrates His provision.
It starts with a bang. On the opening, “Lift My Life Up,”
there is a pause just before the thud of a drum launches a chorus of guys
shouting, “I lift, I lift my life up / I give it all in surrender / I lift my
heart, I lift my heart up / You can have it forever / All my dreams / All my
plans / Lord, I leave it in your Hands. Have your way.” It’s a catchy chorus. Listeners
that know hymns also hear a line that may sound familiar but with an updated
ending, “Take my life and let it be … all for you.”
Some songs, like the title track, convey the sense of
peace that comes from placing all in God’s hands (“In Your Hands”) and leaving
old ways behind (“Walking Away”).
The rhyming wordplay on “Walking Away” makes it
memorable, “I’m walking away from the trouble / Walking away on the double.” It
highlights the decisive nature of repentance.
If there was a time when the organ fell out of use in popular
music, I am thankful for its return. It adds warmth to the chorus of “In Your
Hands.”
The three aforementioned songs are part of the first five
tracks, which are produced by Seth Moseley. Moseley and Jason Ingram, both
well-known and respected in the industry, are co-writers on “Lift My Life Up”
and “Walking Away.”
The production and writing on the second set of songs is
no less engaging. “Just to Get to Me” is a bittersweet highlight, “Sometimes
You shatter dreams / You tear down walls / You wake me up when I’m half asleep
/ Just to get to me / You shower me when I don’t deserve / You never hold back
anything, no / Just to get to me.”
“Who You Are” affirms that it’s never too late to change,
“You can never fall too hard, so fast, so far that you can’t get back when
you’re lost / Where you are is never too late, so bad, so much that you can’t
change who you are.”
J. H. Jowett wrote, “When the soul is ‘true,’ all our
words, and deeds, and gestures will be ‘of the truth,’ and will be true indeed.”
Undone make the tree good; the songs are the good fruit. This encourages
listeners to be right at the Source. When we are, the offspring will be faith,
hope and love.
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