Reviewed by Matthew Cordle

Jonathan Cain, well-known as the keyboard player of mainstream supergroup Journey, presents here his third studio album of Christian songs. While searching for inspiration, Jonathan states that God led his thoughts to focus on the desire to be more like Jesus. I'm sure most listeners would agree that we nowhere near resemble Jesus as we should, so this message is certainly relevant to the Church. As one might expect, the songs are largely piano-led American pop-rock, more on the pop side than Journey would be, sometimes resembling the work of Michael W Smith. Recorded in Jonathan's Addiction Sound Studios with its vintage Trident console, the production is warm and smooth with Jonathan's vocals and harmonies effortlessly gliding through each song. If I had to summarise the message of the entire album in one word, it would be grace. The gift of love and mercy of God underpins the songwriting. Pulling out a few highlights, the title track is a catchy, radio-friendly call to the Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts to better reflect Jesus, recognising this path will involve sacrifice and suffering just as Jesus' did. "Alive" is a bouncy pop tune celebrating the miracle that we are able to rise out of the grave of sin and become a temple for God's Spirit to live within, and "Take These Ashes" is an uplifting, acoustic guitar-led recognition of the power of God's restoration, revitalising the ashes of our lives ("At the foot of the cross you have set us free/Devastation cannot prevail"). In a collection of 15 tracks there is an element of sameness creeping in during the latter half of the record and at times I found my finger itching for the skip button. However, all this is forgotten when we get to the closing "For He Has Risen", which summarises the entire Gospel message in terms of what Jesus has completed/achieved and the imperative of the message his Church has to declare. You might even call it a creed. I can really imagine this working as a congregational worship song.

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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