Andy Hunter is a British DJ and composer who has been creating music since the 1990's. He was one of the forerunners of the electronic dance music (EDM) genre, and has contributed much in the field of sound engineering. As one would expect, his musical musings boast cutting-edge technological advancements, and high quality production. This is certainly the case with perhaps his most linear and cohesive production yet, titled The Prayer. Hunter is no stranger to utilizing guest vocalists, seeing as he prefers to provide the singular instrumental palate for his vocalists to paint with. But here, Hunter has teamed up with only one vocalist, or more specifically, a spoken word artist named Hanna Glover.

It’s hard to tell if The Prayer is more an instrumentally focused album with spoken word filling the need for a theme, or a spoken word album with fitting instrumentals as the backdrop. Either way, the two balance each other in an equally engaging way. The spoken word by Glover is riveting, and Hunter’s soundtrack matches her emotional delivery note for note. One of my personal favorite ways to pray, is to pray through the Lord’s prayer, not just by saying the words, but using each theme as a template, a springboard for topical connection with God. To my delight, this is exactly what The Prayer encapsulates, as even the album art hints at the prayer being likened to clear paint through which our sincerest longings and day-to-day particulars can be lifted up. Each section is given a brief introduction, which really could have been tacked on to the full track following it. This accounts for the discrepancy between the number of tracks and album length, but is not much of a distraction. Instrumentally, imagine the atmosphere of Hans Zimmer's Interstellar soundtrack, mixed with EDM’s electronic phases and energy, a combination that is often mesmerizing in scope. The first full track, “Hallowed,” opens to a synth-pad providing chord structure, while a melodic piano plays a simple, yet memorable tune, before breaking into a huge dance beat at the halfway point, albeit in a minor key to continue the subdued, meditative persona. Glover’s mode of poetry is the perfect complement for this, acting as part therapy session, part personal prayer, as she delves into her daily struggles, relying on the One who loves her to provide every good thing... "I find myself in the darkness/hands on the edge of abyss/hallowed be Your name in my suffering/You are the one who redeems/and turns my winter into spring.”

The most cinematic offering here is “Learning To Forgive,” in which there’s a sense of someone running from the past, unwilling to deal with an antagonist they know they need to forgive. This is brilliantly connected to the next section of the prayer, “deliver us from evil,” which is heralded by notes of surrender in “Leading Me Home” as Glover gives up her entitlement and pride to find where she truly belongs in God’s story, ”As I walk home/let my hands fall to my side/and my eyes look up/point me to my true north/and I will keep walking towards You...In the midst of breakdown/Your plan was always breakthrough/You’re always one step ahead.” A victorious synth and drums team up in “Yours Forever,” as Glover reaches the apex of the prayer by delivering her most visceral and momentous lines of the project, ”you’ve steadied my feet and held me close on every bit of the journey/here on the cusp of the most potent new beginning I have ever tasted/I sing of your goodness/Your heart for me is good/and You have rewritten the story I thought had ended/and redefined what it means to be redeemed.”

If you’re a fan of spoken word projects, or movie soundtracks, you should give The Prayer a listen. It’s a different form of taking in music than I'm used to, but it is an art form that must be engaged with to be fully appreciated. I’d recommend listening the same way you would watch a movie; invest time to be alone with the project, focus in on the wordplays, and seek a fresh lens into how our Lord’s preferred method of prayer is to be handled... and sometimes even wrestled with.

- Review date: 8/9/22, written by Joel Zaloum of Jesusfreakhideout.com