I recently reviewed Leeland’s “Sound of Melodies” album and made heavy use of the Coldplay/Travis comparison. In their recent review of Jason Morant’s “Open,” Christianity Today said that it sounds like “ if Travis or Coldplay made a worship album, this might be it,” so keep those comparisons in mind.

It seems that we’re faced with a couple of options. One is the classic formula of “Christian” musicians simply miming what sells elsewhere. The other option seems to be that this guitar-based formula lends itself well to the “modern worship” environment. I’m inclined to think that it’s a little of both, but with offerings from Leeland, Telecast and Tim Hughes all adopting this formula, perhaps we ought to withhold judgment until we actually listen first.

I’ll admit that I was a bit hesitant. I have and have listened to Morant’s 2004 effort “Abandon.” While it had some highlights such as “Great is the Lord,” the rest of the album struck me as a bit flat and lacking character (although it’s been growing on me as I’ve listened preparing for this review). Morant more than makes up for that album’s shortcomings and progresses tremendously as an artist this time around.

“Open” succeeds in much the same way as does Leeland’s “Sound of Melodies,” incorporating a familiar sound while personalizing it and expanding on it. Morant successfully incorporates strings, piano, banjo, dobro and even accordian to create a lush sonic palette with which to paint these worship pieces. While such a wide range of instrumentation might distract, in Morant’s hands they are used with great subtlety, effectively creating a warmth and atmosphere missing on many other “worship” albums. The presence of certain well-known friends certainly helps as well as both Bebo Norman and Andrew Peterson appear throughout the album.
All of these added elements and ambience are simply decorations to the foundation that is the Coldplay/Radiohead/Travis guitar inspired anthem approach to modern rock. It works well, it’s just not groundbreaking in any way. Morant does succeed in personalizing the genre as well as making it warm and inviting.

Morant sings in a style reminiscient of Rufus Wainwright, but a bit less nasally (which is a good thing). Lyrically, the album is very much a modern worship album, drawing on the themes of salvation and applying them to much of the Christian life. For example, the opening track, appropriately called “Open” deals with living our faith out before others. Morant sings: “”Open up your doors let the sun shine out into the night you’re hiding from. Let your heart lead with love because when all is said and done, love’s the only voice that’s heard, so let your love be heard.”

“Come Let Us Return” sings of Christ and His supremacy: “Come let us bow before before the lamb who sits upon the throne. Let us rejoice, rejoice for He has reconciled His own. And all we have and all we see belongs to Him alone. Come let us return to the King for He alone is worthy to receive all our praise. Come let us be thankful everyday.”

Yet with these solid worship moments, I must say that I have a couple of theological concerns with the album. For example, “Belong” contains the lines: “With me on your mind, you looked through time and saw what I would become without your blood, without your breath and so you came. And you drank from that precious cup.” Yes, I am a Calvinist, so yes, I have a problem anytime anyone uses the idea of God “looking down the corridors of time” and then acting because He knew what we would do. I simply think it’s not biblical and robs God of His sovereignty. This brings up the interesting question of whether or not modern “Christian” musicians ought to have theological training, but that’s another post for another time.

Whereas Christianity Today faults the album for its length, I find it refreshing that an artist is willing to attempt to fully flesh out his ideas, emphasizing the album context in this day and age of radio singles. While this typically means (as it does here) that some sections may drag a bit more than others, I didn’t feel that this distracted from the flow or feel of the album overall.

Overall, the album is very solid and engaging, using big guitars to sustain the momentum. Yes, it often sounds like Coldplay, but if you like Coldplay, that’s a good thing. If you don’t like Coldplay, there’s still enough strong material and variety here to keep you interested. Overall a very solid release.

• Buy “Open” by Jason Morant
• Visit Jason Morant’s official website.
• Visit Jason’s necessary myspace page
• Read Christianity Today’s review of the album