Daniel Kirkley's sophomore release, the As Tomorrow Comes EP is a genuine and easy-listening approach to modern worship. With six tracks, as an EP it's pretty decent, but most of the tracks are covers, which only leaves a song or two unique to this acoustic project.

Opening with Matt Redman's "God Of Our Yesterdays," one can't help thinking that it sounds very similar to a lot of other worship artists, with the exception being that the only instruments used are piano and cello (which, I have to admit, are quite a soothing combination). Leading into the second track, it's quite a treat to hear "Lead Me To The Cross" played with only the aforementioned instruments, especially since it's one of the few Hillsong United songs I actually like. However, it makes more sense when Kirkley covers worship classic "Give Me Jesus," as it isn't quite as fresh or new as "Lead Me To The Cross," which is almost too recent to cover. His rendition of the song is beautiful, and is very much suited to the easy-listening tone of the EP. "Crying Out To You" is almost as bland as the opener; but unlike the opener, it manages to hold the attention a little while longer. Moving into "Let Love Win," the title track from his pop debut last year, it came as a surprise to me that this particular song had actually been penned by Nichole Nordeman. Unfortunately, it too falls a bit flat, mostly due to Kirkley's pleasant but uninteresting manner of singing that permeates this release. Strangely, "All Is Well" turns out to be the best of Kirkley's songs here (which is also the only song Kirkley wrote here, having co-written it with Tony Wood). Mostly it's due to the soaring melody, which keeps the attention of the listener - a very good idea when there are only two instruments to weave and hold the music together.

Daniel Kirkley doesn't strike musical gold with this EP. Truthfully, I really don't like saying this, especially as the lyrics feel very genuine and heartfelt, but there's nothing here to offer that hasn't already been covered by myriads of worship singers and bands before Kirkley. True, the stripped-down approach does lend the project a bit of a unique air, but even then it doesn't make Kirkley the only music artist to take this approach. As background music, As Tomorrow Comes would work well, but it doesn't particularly make for an engaging listening experience. If "engaging" and "unique" is what you crave, bands such as David Crowder*Band and The Listening would fit that bill far better.

- Review date: 12/21/08, written by Adam Dawson