Artist Info:Discography Album length: 10 tracks: 48 minutes and 50 seconds Street Date: April 25, 2006
From his humble beginnings as a youth group worship leader in San Diego, California, comes
Simple Records artist Phil Wickham. While it's clear through listening to Wickham's
national debut that his music is modern worhship through and through, one should notice immediately
that it is different than what most have to come to expect from the genre.
Wickham's attention to art is refreshing, while the lyrics are straightforward, if not too straightforward.
Songs like "Yours Alone," "Messiah," and "I Adore You" are all lyrically what we've come to expect in
worship, ultimately offering nothing all too deep or groundbreaking. However, it's songs like "Crumble
To Pieces" that find Wickham penning beautiful lines such as, "I'm speechless what can I say, words become tears as You
wipe them away / all my kisses and crowns at your feet, fire of heaven burn love over me."
Musically, Phil's voice and style will draw most comparisons to Keane or Cold Play. Wickham's vibrato vocal style
stands out moreso than those artists, fusing his delivery with power and passion. At times, however, Phil's
vibrato can seem a bit excessive. It would be interesting to hear more experimentation with his vocal
style, but his vocal talent is unmistakable. Regardless if Wickham's voice is an acquired taste or
not, he still possesses one of the strongest voices in worship music today. And what makes Phil's music
work so well is his ability to break out of the foolproof praise & worship box to allow his songs to dig
deeper.
Phil Wickham crafts a noteworthy self-titled debut that will undoubtedly turn heads as he raises the
bar for what we expect from worship music. Fans of Keane looking for a worship record more in tune with
their tastes should look no further. Seeing how this young worship leader develops his craft over the
next few years should be an exciting process that I'm looking forward to watching.
- Review date: 4/23/06, written by John DiBiase
Record Label:Simple Records Album length: 11 tracks: 48 minutes and 50 seconds
Street Date: April 25, 2006
Record Label: 
