27th June, 2007

JUSTIN MICHAEL

Album: Recollection: The Best of Nichole Nordeman
Artist: Nichole Nordeman
Label: Sparrow, 2007

Enhanced: No

In a word: Collectable

"Though I somehow sense that Nordeman’s edge has been slowly chipped away at by the ever increasing slick pop sound of her records, there is, in this collection, ample evidence to remind us of why an artist that has something deeper to say can still be heard in an age where Christian contemporary music is continually disregarded as vanilla."

It was my girlfriend (now wife) that introduced me to the music of Nichole Nordeman via the old cassette player of her student-budget car. She was very proud of that car, and similarly proud of her new tape that she determined I should hear.

That album was the 1998 debut offering from Nichole Nordeman, Wide Eyed. It was what it said; a bigger view of things. Songs like To Know You, Who You Are and Is It Any Wonder, all featured on this record. They pointed to a searching song writer who wasn’t afraid to draw solace in the mystery of God and still be OK with asking the questions that bore no apparent answers - “I really want to know you, be patient with my doubt, I’m just trying to figure out Your will, and I really want to know You still," she sings in one song.

2000 brought the sophomore release, This Mystery that spawned songs such as Every Season, a personal favourite and still a spine tingler, as well as Why and the title track, This Mystery.

In 2002 Nordeman struck music gold with the Song Of The Year Dove Award for Holy from the album Woven and Spun.

Though I somehow sense that Nordeman’s edge has been slowly chipped away at by the ever increasing slick pop sound of her records, there is, in this collection, ample evidence to remind us of why an artist that has something deeper to say can still be heard in an age where Christian contemporary music is continually disregarded as vanilla.

As is expected in the ‘best of’ part of the music store, there are included on the collection two new offerings. Sunrise captures the essence of Nordeman’s writing with the lyric, "You are sunrise, You are blue skies, How would I know the morning, If I knew not midnight?" The other new tune, Finally Free, offers the contrasting thought, "no shadow dark enough, no night is black enough, no road is lost enough that He can’t find it".

From the first time I listened to the orchestral arrangements of piano-driven, emotive, conviction-wrapped, God-searching songs in the tape deck of my girl's car, I realised this was a writer who was sure of herself and wished to give her own palette of expressive colour to her music. If you have not ever heard Ms Nordeman, this collection is worth it simply for the live version of Real To Me, an incredibly unique take on the day of the crucifixion of Christ.

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