Onething Live “Shout Your Name” Album Review

Prime Cuts:  So Come (Misty Edwards), I Will Wait (Ryan Kondo), In the Presence of Angels (Laura Hackett Park)

Many worship albums suffer from a dearth of a thematic cohesiveness. They function like a "mixed-tape" of songs coming from variegated artists stringed together aimlessly into an album of sorts.  Hence, there is no thematic or narrative build-up or tension or flow across the record, making the whole disc sounds like an ad hoc affair.  This is fortunately not the case with Onething's latest live project.   Coming under the thematic arch of "until the fame of Jesus fills the earth," each of this 11 tracks expound on how King Jesus takes on the title deeds of our lives and of this world via the proclamation of the Gospel.  Starting from Jaye Thomas' "Famous," a prophetic cry for the world to know Jesus until Misty Edwards' "So Come" where such a prophecy becomes a reality at Christ's eschaton, this disc unreels like a tightly knitted narrative rifled with lots of cliff-hanging moments.

"Shout Your Name" was recorded at IHOPKC's annual Onething young adult conference last December.   Each December downtown Kansas City is transformed into a global destination for thousands of fiery worshipers as IHOPKC hosts its annual Onething conference at the Kansas City Convention Center. Drawing around 20,000 church leaders and young people from congregations all over the world each year, this premier event featured Forerunner Music artists and IHOPKC worship leaders Misty Edwards, Jaye Thomas, Laura Hackett Park, Jonas Park, Jon Thurlow, Justin Rizzo and Ryan Kondo.

What is most rewarding about this disc is that it doesn't suffer from an overkill of skit drums or prolonged stadium rock beats.  Jaye Thomas' album opener "Famous" is perhaps the album's most skittering track that leans heavily on some recycled big and dynamic chorus.  The rest of the songs are more tempered and contemplative.  Jon Thurlow's "Shout Your Name" lays the album's seed thought where he thoughtfully (and passionately) expounds on how worship is the means of spreading the fame of Jesus until it fills the earth.  Laura Hackett Park puts her crystalline vocals to great affect with "In the Presence of Angels," a ballad that sets to music Biblical passages like Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4.  Laura's hubby, Jonas Park, takes liberties with the delightful use of elongated synth beats giving "We Come (Blessing)" a dance-like feel that is refreshing.

Ballad fans who love the haunting sounds of a grand piano and Ryan Kondo's searching tenor will love "I Will Wait."  Sung with a deep seated passion and nuancing every syllable with a heartfelt earnestness, "I Will Wait" is a soul-lifter for those who are in the throes of discouragement.  Jaye Thomas adds a touch of the hymnic and Gospel to the theologically erudite "Hymn (John 1)."  Among the various worship leaders, the most well-known has to be Misty Edwards.  While some other leaders get two or three cuts, Edwards only makes one appearance.  And it's perhaps the disc's most memorable piece.  "So Come" is characteristic of Edwards.  Not only does she showcase her ability to reach those soaring heights, but when she sings, you can't help but feel your heart stirred with love for Jesus.

"Shout Your Name" may boast 8 individual worship leaders handling the lead vocals for the songs here, but the album doesn't sound disjointed.  Rather, like a well-developed narrative, the story of how Christ's fame pinnacled at His death and resurrection spreads like wildfire through these songs of worship is something to behold and experience on this disc.  So, do yourself a favour and let your soul be engulfed by such a rapid and contagious flame.

 

Tags : onething live onething live shout your name misty edwards jaye thomas jon thurlow laura hackett park Jonas Park ryan kondo onething conference ihopkc forerunner artists onething news onething new album Album Review shout your name review onething review