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TreasureBeating TimeTREASURE (CD) Regular readers may remember that Phatfish are my benchmark for contemporary Christian music. This is not because they are particularly musically ground-breaking, but for the weight of their words and for their transparent personal integrity. That said, Phatfish are also skilled musicians and their lead singer, Lou Fellingham, does indeed have ‘one of the finest voices in Christendom’. I’ve expressed some fairly strong opinions in this column. In general, the Christian contemporary music scene is plagued by worldliness, shallowness, blandness, poor theology, triumphalism, the cult of self, and endless ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ songs. How should we respond? Sadly, we are prone to extremes: on the one hand, we may deny vehemently that such a problem exists; on the other, we may be zealously throwing the baby out with the bath water. So I’m always anxious when those I’ve grown to love and trust do something new. Will they have ‘sold out’? And if they have, will I even notice? Will my faculties of discernment have become dulled by familiarity? Debut albumTreasure is Lou Fellingham’s debut album. It’s not Phatfish — well, the musicians are not Phatfish, but the lead vocals are 100% Phatfish, and the material is 80% Phatfish (being written by Lou and/or her husband, Nathan Fellingham). Based on recordings spanning more than a decade, I’d say this is Lou at her best — strong and yet sensitive, clean and yet musical. In the last Phatfish album, Faithful, she was sometimes just a little lost in the mix, but they’ve fixed that this time around. The band may not be Phatfish, but they do a great job. I’m particularly fond of the real Hammond B3, yet the overall sound is still quite British (despite being recorded in California). But it is the words that excite me the most. Although we’ve heard a third of the material before, this fresh treatment serves it well. There’s even a new (!) approach to Vicki Cook’s popular modern setting of Charitie Bancroft’s ‘Before The Throne Of God Above’ (although even the slightest revision of the words seems unnecessary in this case). The album opens with the honesty and confidence of the Phatfish standard ‘O God Of Love’. It ends with an invigorating shower from Paul Oakley’s song ‘Let It Rain’. A new version of Lou’s prayer lullaby ‘God Of Mercy’, written for the countless AIDS orphans in Africa, will tug at your heart (although for the definitive setting you must hear the Phatfish ‘unplugged’ album Hope where the song is most appropriately followed by the sublime hymn ‘There Is A Day’). The new material is excellent. There is a very healthy mix of personal and corporate language, with much good application of Scripture. Before long I expect we will be singing some of these songs to each other, and together, to the Lord. Still others will become faithful friends, as they teach and admonish us more personally. In a word: treasure! PGDH© Evangelicals Now - April 2006 |