Review
It's the time again that Steven Curtis Chapman fans have been waiting for - the release of a new pop/rock, guitar-based, worship-tinged album which challenges and encourages your personal faith. And once again Steven has delivered the goods, with an album that shows why he's one of the most honoured artists in the history of Christian music. Following in the footsteps of his history-making platinum album Speechless, with 7 singles going to number 1, Declaration is the perfect follow-up. As the title suggests, Declarations features 13 declarations of Steven saying what he knows and believes to be true.
'Live Out Loud,' the first single from this album, gives a fantastic start to the album. It's a full-out track with a quiet guitar introduction that suddenly erupts into a loud rock groove. Right from this first track, you can see the lyric writing talent of Steven as the song tells a story as if Steven had won a million dollars and was keeping it in a coffee can. What may sound silly yet reflects our attitude to being a Christian - what we have in Christ being better than a million dollars and yet we keep it hidden. Therefore, you can work out the meaning of the lyrics in this song: 'Wake the neighbours / Get the word out / Crank up the music / Run around turn and shout ... La la la la Live out Loud.' Steven wrote 14 versions of this track trying to get the right one, and we can count on Steven to have chosen the right one! It's a fun and enjoyable song, emphasised by the in-your-face backing vocals, the jazz piano in the centre of the track and overall, its funky rhythm.
This album is as Steven puts it, 'a guitar record' or 'actually walls of guitars' and you can see this by the song 'Jesus is Life.' The track begins with an electric guitar riff that is played repetitively through a lot of the song and joined by other electric guitar melodies and snippets throughout with a few extra instruments to add effect. It is very similar to being a classic rock song of the 60's/70's but as Steven says 'still being current and feeling modern.' The song was inspired by producer and friend, Greg Nelson who often said 'Jesus is not part of life, not an addition to life, not even a way of life but Jesus is life.' As the lyrics say, 'There's been some confusion / About a certain someone / A lot of discussion / And a lot of debates' of who Jesus is - and this is the song showing the declaration that Steven is making of who Jesus is.
'God Is God' is a stunning track and one of the best. Taken from what seems to be a strange statement, the meaning is completely changed when the words 'and I am not' are added in the chorus. The music has an adventure-like feel to it with a racing acoustic guitar melody and calming but mysterious synthesiser effects. An overlaid electric guitar track adds small touches of brilliance and strings add smoothing effects. Towards the centre of the track, the music bursts into something like a tribal dance that again stresses the adventure-like feel, the music finishing abruptly at the end of the song with only the tribal-like vocals slowly dying away. It's an interesting and very enjoyable track.
'This Day' begins with a choir-like vocal chorus, similar to something from the vocal songs known as 'Adaemus,' with a quietly mixed string background that's joined by a powerfully played acoustic guitar. The track is built upon the acoustic guitar rhythm that flows up and down in pitch creating a very cheerful tune. The track is written about the fact that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. In our lives we have our ups and downs and yet God never changes, as Steven says 'His word and promises are just as true' this day.
'See The Glory' is an amusing and entertaining track which features various computer game sound effects and strongly played distorted guitars. Starting with an electronic effect and then a quiet electric guitar rhythm, this song suddenly bursts into life. It just as quickly dies back until the chorus, where the full push of the song enters again. The inspiration for this track came from a train journey taken by Steven's pastor through the most incredible scenery, while a boy sitting next to him would rather play on his portable computer game. Therefore Steven got the lyrics 'Sometimes it's like I'm playing Game Boy standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon ... Wake up and see the glory.' We often don't take much notice of our surroundings and yet often it's the most incredible display of God's glory. Overall, the feeling from this track sums up this album very well. The tracks on this album are not your average guitars, drums and vocals - they offer something more. Steven has used many different instruments and electronic devices in just the right places to enhance these songs and this track shows this. The computer game effect in the centre of the song just makes you laugh! Most of the tracks on this album are uniquely enjoyable and yet mix a serious side of Christianity with the fun that we can have with Christ.
A slightly different track on this album is 'When Love Takes You In,' different in that there's no guitars - just a piano with string accompaniment. The song is written from the experience of Shaohannah, Steven's adopted daughter. This is a very emotional track, quite apart from 'Live Out Loud' and 'Bring It On' - even Steven wept as he wrote it. The track stems from a simple melody, similar to that of an arpeggio, and has been padded out with a contemplative slow string backing track.
Declaration is very typical Steven Curtis Chapman, and this is not a revolutionary album, but in Steven's case, it's great news. Some of the newer songs have a similar feel to earlier songs on previous albums. 'No Greater Love' is similar to 'What I Really Want To Say' from Speechless, but not too alike to get the two mixed up. This is and will be another classic Steven Curtis Chapman album with many great songs, each being a masterpiece unto themselves and therefore, similar to Speechless, likely to have many great singles.
Album Rating:
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