Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

The second independent release from American singer/songwriter and worship writer Christopher Wright. Acoustic driven pop is probably the best way of describing the contents and lyrically, there is worship but Christopher isn't real­ly a worship leader, he just writes songs that provoke you into intimacy with Jesus and encourage you to worship. He's recently had material taken up by Maranatha Music and so is beginning to be known as a strong writer and lis­tening to the material here, he deserves to have this album made more widely available. Combining the acoustic with a fresh poppier sound, this album is a strong step forward from his debut. Whether he's celebrating being alive on the shamelessly happy "My Reason" (I swear you can hear him smiling!) or reflect­ing on the lessons that life has taught him on "Keep Me Still", this is inspiring stuff. At the other end of the scale the title cut is probably the hardest thing he's recorded (musically or spiritually) as he is faced by true reality of his own sin and leads the listener into that place of recognising the failures of the self. But then being transparent seems to be part of Christopher's method of working and thus his songs make an impact by virtue of their reality. I like it when the sheen of pop production shines up the songs like the worshipful "You Are" and the masterpiece of this album "The Name Of Jesus" which is one of (hose annoying songs that won't let you go when you've heard it. I've been humming it for days! So then, a cracking inspirational album and if you like well crafted songs, acoustic driven sounds and a bi! of pop thrown in - grab onto this one and don't let go!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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