3rd December, 2009
JUSTIN MICHAEL
Album: Stop & Listen
Artist: Bethany Dillon
Year: 2009
Label: Sparrow
"I like it, or at least, I think I do. By being confessional, it brings life lessons to the fore. It could be a great teaching aid for the spiritual journey. I just don't think this is going to last long in your playlist for lack of creative risk."
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In A Word: Teachable
"Too many days I feel like I run on empty / does anyone else out there feel like me / I'd be a fool to forfeit / the chance to take a moment."
- Stop & Listen.
Bethany Dillon's voice is as warm and inviting as ever. Kind of a country-pop thing with adult-contemporary sensibilities that carries her sound across so many other markets.
Dillon has amassed seven years in professional music recording and touring at only 21 and suggests this is “probably the most confessional album I've ever made”. It is a stand-out effort and when you consider she's also managed to finish four albums and get married during the same period, well, you get the picture that she's in music for more than a moment.
There really are some strong songs here. Deliver Me seems to have come directly out of a time of reflective study, it's very strong in Biblical truth and references a stack of Scripture but it also has a great hook that will draw you in to the journey of the tune. In The Beginning could have been played by the ragamuffin band (which is a very cool thing) and has a chorus that you can use as a prayer while Get Up And Walk is an opening cut that would sit tidily with your Brooke Fraser collection (nb: the album is produced by Marshal Altman = Brooke Fraser & Warren Barfield).
Still, though strong in sentiment and message, the album seems to lack, well, a hit for one thing. Or is it the ever-hard-to-define 'X factor'?
The closest to left-of-centre here is the motown-tinged Reach Out. It's the story of the woman with the issue of blood. It's a great take on the story and again, brings a strong message to the fore. But where the verses set up something musically interesting, the chorus settles for pop bore-mality.
I like it, or at least, I think I do. By being confessional, it brings life lessons to the fore. It could be a great teaching aid for the spiritual journey. I just don't think this is going to last long in your playlist for lack of creative risk. Still, it works well for effecting a moment to stop and listen, and the message will still speak deeply to many.
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