Album Review - Brian Johnson's Love Came Down!

This quiet and intimate offering from Brian Johnson is an excellent, excellent example of how to do an acoustic worship set right. Though recorded way back in 2009 (it only hit our shores recently), it's timely, relevant and deeply affecting.

The setting's a little strange - it's live worship in the studio (so is it a live album or a studio recording?) - but it works marvelously towards building an atmosphere of deep, reflective worship. The audio is well-recorded and perfectly mixed - every voice and instrument playing its own part but never ever overwhelming the other.

It's kinda like throwing a bunch of different ingredients into a blender and turning it into a puree - you can't tell where one ingredient ends and the other begins, but it call comes together in a tasteful package that just adds to the overall enjoyment (sorry for the food analogy, the Mrs. and I have been fascinated to no end lately by Junior Masterchef Australia).

Although every song is performed by only 3 instruments at the maximum (acoustic guitar + piano + cello/hammered dulcimer), it never sounds sparse - a testament both to the brilliant arrangements of the songs as well as the ingenious mixing. The songs themselves are well-suited for the acoustic setting, quietly restrained but never feeling as if they are held back.

What I really really really love about this album is the deep sense of worship that pervades every song, every note, every melody. It's easy to record a bunch of songs, but to imbue the songs and the album with such a strong spirit of worship requires the artist to really be worshipping - and that's exactly what Brian Johnson and the musicians and singers are precisely doing.

Listening to the album is great, but watching the accompanying DVD makes it even easier for you to feel like you're part of the worship session.

Here's the title track, Love Came Down:



And my personal favourite song on the album, Show Me Your Face (unfortunately I can't find the full song on youtube - so go buy the album already):



All in all, this is an album I whole-heartedly recommend:









Quiet but never sleepy; intimate and deeply worshipful - this album makes a perfect companion for devotions or times when you just need to get on your knees and seek the Lord.

And for all the other times when you just want to take a break from all the typically loud and noisy P&W albums out there, this album is it.

In a time when putting out an acoustic album means replacing more instruments on the band with acoustic guitars (but still having one electric guitar - CHEATS!), and replacing electric synthesizers with grand pianos, Brian Johnson's Love Came Down is the benchmark against which all acoustic albums will be measured.

And right now, it's standing in a class of it's own.