Music Review: Audrey Assad, Fortunate Fall

There's nothing like some ancient theology to anchor your latest music project. With the help of Kickstarter, singer-songwriter Audrey Assad has put together a collection of eleven songs that deal with the wounded soul of humanity's grasping for the divine, grappling with redemption, death, and resurrection alike. Her fundraising campaign lasted a mere fifty hours and ended well beyond the target goal, allowing Assad to release the album free of the creative interference of a major record label, CCM or not. Although independent projects can be hit or miss, her effort has delivered on Assad's formidable songwriting chops and ear for melody.

The album begins with the meditative droning of an organ filtered through a Leslie speaker, that classic tone captured surprisingly well where other Lo-Fi recordings would render the sound mawkish. The title track speaks of that paradoxical joy that comes from the redemption we experience as the result of Adam's original sin. There is a hint of ancient Christian liturgy here, because the track gets its title from the Exsultet, a hymn traditionally sung at the vigil mass before Easter is ushered in. This album is a recognition of the beauty inherent in humanity's deep-seated need for redemption, and the transformational journey from darkness to light.

Her crystal clear voice lends itself well to the feel of the tracks like "Humble," where her voice coos softly to back up lyrics about incarnation, of a God "not too proud to wear our skin / to know this weary world we're in." That same ethereal feel is translated into the coda of the next track "O Happy Fault." If worship leaders around the country are paying attention, they can add a song like this to the list of new music to supplant regular and often overplayed favorites like Hillsong's "Oceans."

The highlight of the album comes after its midpoint. The transcendent "Good To Me" contains a singable hook and lyrics that deal frankly with pain and how to interact with God in its midst. "When I'm bowed down with sorrow I will lift up your name / and the foxes in the vineyard will not steal my joy." An understated guitar break provides a break to the well structured song, making it one of the fuller instrumental efforts on the album replete with piano anthems.

The singer's Catholicism lends itself to the meditative mood, not shying away from the paradoxes of a mature faith. It also lends a new meaning to the phrase "I will taste your goodness" on "I Shall Not Want." These theological nuggets are plentiful for the careful listener. For this reason I think this album belongs at the top of the list of releases in 2013, alongside such greats as The National's Trouble Will Find Me and Phosphorescent's Muchachando. I look forward to seeing what else Assad has in store for us, and hope she continues to make music now that the challenges of motherhood compound her daily life. This album is a testament to why the "Christian" music scene needs to leave room for artistic freedom as a witness to reclaim something of the sacred in songwriting. It is powerful, it is dark, it is surprisingly gentle: all good analogies for divine love. As Assad can attest, even good art needs redemption. Fortunate fall, indeed.