New Music From Matt & Mat

There are two albums that have been receiving a lot of my attention lately, both of which were released on August 2: Matt Papa’s [2] This Changes Everything and Mat Kearney’s [3] Young Love. Let me give you a brief overview of each of them.

This Changes Everything

This Changes Everything is a full-on worship album and one that focuses on big themes of sin and sovereignty and salvation. It has as much theological depth as any album I’ve heard recently and combines this depth with calls to action and Christian living. Musically it ranges from rock to ballads with even a little bit of rap and a little bit of Piper added for good measure. Here are some sample lyrics:

From “Our Sovereign God:”

Our Sovereign God
The King of all
Clothed in Power
And crowned forevermore

Idols will fall
He stands alone
Reigning ever on His throne
Dwelling in Glory and Awe
Our Sovereign God

From “It Is Finished:”

The earth shook and trembled , the sun bowed it’s head
the veil of the temple was opened for man as
Jesus went down in the cold of the grave
defeated the darkness when He overcame
the keys of the kingdom were placed into hands
of children and priests and of fishers of men
Through all generations His voice will be heard
creation’s resounds the victorious words 

From “One Thing:”

What would make a man so bold
Make a woman lay her own life down
Only one thing

Jesus Christ, Magnified
All over the world
Lifted High, glorified
All over the world
Only One thing
Is Worth everything
Jesus Christ, Magnified
All over the world

This is an album that is constantly calling for a response. Take “What Are We Waiting For?” as an example. It is a call to take the gospel to all lands.

What are we waiting for
A message in the sky
A miracle, a sign
From up above, is not His word enough?

What are we waiting for
He’s given us a choice
He’s given us a voice
And right now, if He is Lord
Then what are we waiting for

This is the first of Papa’s albums I’ve really listened to and I’ll definitely be going back and listening to his others. I’ve played it 20 or 30 times in the past couple of weeks and am not nearly done with it yet. You can find it at iTunes [4] or Amazon [5].

Young Love

Those who have tracked the career of Mat Kearney know that he is a Christian who has recently found a lot of success in the mainstream market. In the past he has spoken boldly of his conversion. Young Love really has no explicit references to such faith. I don’t take this as if it is necessarily a bad thing, but it’s worth knowing before you buy that this is not a Christian album in the sense of a collection of songs about God or the Christian faith. It is quirky and fun and upbeat and contains one of the very few uses of a children’s choir that I can actually tolerate. There are love songs and biographical songs, though you may want to note that one uses the word “hell” in a way some people won’t appreciate. It may not be a great album, but it’s certainly pretty good. 

Here are a few sample lyrics, first from “Young, Dumb and In Love:”

Under the weeping willows and the sea of fireflies,
With your gypsy necklace on and my big brown bowtie,
You kiss my lips like I was catching a flight, I said, If I'm honest
I fell for you that first night.

 And from “Learning to Love Again:”

Cause that was the real you running through
the fields of gold wide open,
Standing in places no picture contains.
Hey brother, we’re all learning to love again. 

You can find Young Love at Amazon [6] for just $5.99 or on iTunes [6].