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Jennifer Knapp Jennifer Knapp, one of the brightest stars in the array of Christian musicians, has set a new standard for herself with The Way I Am, her third album. Knapp has remarkable talent as a singer and a songwriter, and this may be the clearest demonstration of her talent to produce the sincere language and painful sounds of humility, courage, hope, and repentance. The careful listener will find her music wonderfully paradoxical: subtle statements that are collectively overwhelming; a voice that carries power and frailty in the same round note; lyrics that beautifully articulate complex emotions in minimal language. This is her most mature work, lyrically and musically. Her choice of words on this album demonstrates a deepening poetic sensibility (consider the phrase "in laurels of glory" and hear the inner connection of the soft consonants and lingering vowels). The production on this album is a leap beyond her previous work; it is far richer and deeper than the acoustic folk and guitar-rock of her earlier albums, relying heavily on stringed accompaniment and more complex arrangements. The risk is a mixed success. 'Light of the World' and 'No Regrets' are overworked, and obscure rather than uphold the beautiful melodies and simple lyrics of the songs. But the gamble's pay-off is the incredible stretch of songs on the middle of the album--'Come to Me,' 'Charity,' 'Fall Down,' 'Sing Mary Sing,' and 'In Two (The Lament)' --which makes this album one of the best the year. 'Charity,' my early pick for the best song on the album, most clearly demonstrates the success of combining rich orchestral arrangements with Knapp's uncannily simple melody and delicate word choice. 'In Two (The Lament)' shows Knapp's increasing thematic breadth, mulling over a broken relationship. 'The Way I Am' brings together the theme of all of Knapp's work (the humble opening of oneself to the work of sanctifying grace) with the theme of this album (the incongruity of being a person full of sin, weakness, and the power to destroy and a person who is also a redeemed child of God). As she pithily muses in 'Breathe on Me,' "who am I to be fallen?" Jennifer Knapp fans--and if you aren't one, you probably know someone who is--should love this album as much or more than her previous albums. Those teenage girls across the nation who have spent hours in their bedrooms learning chords from Internet tab sheets and modeling their voices on Knapp's characteristically folksy sound should find that 'Come to Me' and 'Sing Mary Sing' will be nice additions to their amateur-night-at-the-local-coffeehouse set list. The more eclectic of us should find that The Way I Am is a wonderful addition to our collections--if it ever leaves the CD player. (Tim Y.) |
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