The World is Waking Limited Edition - Unspoken

“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.