After a quiet couple of months, some really exciting new albums arrived on Spotify over the last few days, with British Christian artists finally starting to appear in greater numbers. But I’m going to resist the temptation to mention them until I’ve had a few more listens. So until then, here’s a brief sampling of what came out earlier in August. Click on the album titles for the Spotify link.
Aaron Shust – Take Over. The two strong opening tracks To God Alone and Come and Save Us had previously been released as singles, so I was looking forward to hearing the whole album. And whilst you wouldn’t describe this as a particularly adventurous album, the quality of songwriting is high, making this the best of the bunch this month.
Rachel Scott – Resolution. I hadn’t heard of Rachel Scott before, and apparently this is her first full album. It’s a very impressive debut, with a sound reminiscent of Sara Groves. I will definitely be checking out any future albums from her.
1000 Generations – Turn Off the Lesser Lights I usually like Vineyard artists, but the jury’s out on this band from Indianapolis. There are some slightly eccentric production decisions on the earlier tracks. I felt the worship songs were fairly formulaic, but the second half of the album actually features better material. Their single, Fail Us Not is their strongest track.
Britt Nicole – The Lost Get Found After liking the opening track The Lost Get Found which was released as a single last month, I was looking forward to hearing the whole album. The full thing is pleasant enough to listen to although I found the clichéd pop production a little grating in places. So if you like melodic upbeat pop and don’t mind gratuitous use of auto-tune this might be for you. But for the rest of us who aren’t 14 year old girls, there are better choices.
Philips, Craig & Dean – Fearless. These guys have been around for ages, but this is the first of their albums I have listened to. They do a good cover of Hillsong’s “From the Inside Out”, successfully pulling off the epic Hillsong sound. Their strength is their use of harmonies, and stylistically, they are similar to Leeland.