Back in 2008, I had the privilege of taking part in Dwell 2008 in New York City. Dwell was a church planting conference co-hosted by Acts 29 and Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and was focused on urban church planting. Several hundred church planters packed into an old church in Manhattan for a week to listen to CJ Mahaney, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, Eric Mason, Darrin Patrick, and several others spur them on in mission.
My very good friend Tim Smith of Mars Hill Church asked me to join him in playing music for the conference, and told me we’d be joining a female vocalist and a rhythm section from Redeemer. Over the years, I’ve played with many such thrown-together bands, and usually things don’t come together very well. This was a fun exception.
The rhythm section was solid, Tim is always a great leader, and the female vocalist was Melanie Penn, as stellar a vocalist as I’ve played with. Melanie has just released her solo record, Wake Up Love, and I want to pass it on to you.
Composed mostly of originals, Wake Up Love is a fun, well-arranged pop gem. Produced by Ben Shive (who has also worked with Sara Grove), it has a stellar cast of musicians on board, including Ron Block of Union Station and Andrew Osenga (both of whom I’m an adoring fan). The arrangements pull conceptually from a whole host of singer/songwriters – a dash of Sufjan Stevens, a heaping scoop of Paul Simon, and references to Sixpence None The Richer, Over the Rhine and Emmylou Harris.
It holds together very well, and through it all Melanie’s airy, pure and beautiful voice shines. The amount of detail in the arrangements lend themselves nicely to headphone listening, and doesn’t wear you out. The front half of the record has some of the more adventurous ideas, like “Wake Up Love,” with it’s Russian dance breakdown near the end, while the second half gets a little more intimate and straight-forward. My personal favorites are “The Wind” and “Train” – a great take on the classic Americana theme of the railroad.
So it’s not simply because she’s my friend that I recommend Wake Up Love. It’s a great record with great songs, laments of loss and love, and the questions from the Christian life. Pick it up on iTunes or right here.
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