Reviewed by Trevor Kirk

Nearly 57 minutes' worth of thinking man's music from Mr Janzen, moving fellow Manitoban and Vineyard stalwart David Ruis to remark that the album is not just a good listen, but an inspiration as well. John himself says that the songs on the album are a portrait of what's going on inside of him and that the project is about a whole new way of seeing things. I must agree, and it's a refreshing change to hear thought-provoking music free of happy-clappy triumphalism and worship-by-numbers banalities. Highlights on first listen - the aforementioned Mr Ruis joins JJ on "Take Me Away" ("Take me away with you, my heart is joining with the song of all creation to come home") which has an atmospheric, slightly Celtic groove, and "Merciful God" is a gritty choppy praise song addressed to Jesus with some stunning lyrics: "Once I was blind, I had gone astray, but the Spirit in the sky wouldn't pass me by, showed me a new way; now I have a promise and now I see that the King of Kings gave everything when he died for me." Whilst most of the album is not nearly so overt in its Christian lyricism (John reckons that some of the songs are appropriate for performance in church, some likely not), there's no mistaking where he's coming from, so if you like good quality cliche-free pop/rock music that makes you think, this is worth getting hold of.

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