Life giving resources. Faithfully delivered.
FREE delivery on orders over £10
Serving over 2 million Christians in the UK
with Bibles, Books and Church Supplies
Our Buy-Now-Pay-Later accounts used
by over 4,000 UK Churches & Schools
Sam Hailes
I’ve spent the last few weeks wondering what the hype surrounding 30 year old Kari Jobe is all about.
Three minutes into her new album, I understood.
Once you’ve given Where I Find You a fair listen, you won’t be surprised to learn it debuted at #1 in the US iTunes chart last month.
Opening with a beautiful but short-lived (10 second) violin ensemble, the album immediately captures your attention. Steady My Heart soon evolves into a powerful mid tempo number about trusting God during tough times.
“Even when it hurts / Even when it’s hard / Even when it all just falls apart / I will run to you / Cause I know you are / Lover of my soul / Healer of my Scars”.
Kari’s voice is stunning. There’s a strength and depth to her vocals which, when combined with confident musicianship, results in a bold yet beautiful sound.
The second track begins with violins, piano and drums. We Are is pure and simple pop music at its best. The obvious choice for a first single, the song has already had widespread airplay on American radio stations. The message of the song is uplifting, and encouraging as well as provoking.
“We are the light of the world and we gotta let the light shine” is hardly the most original lyric, but it doesn’t need to be. Backed by a catchy tune and an interesting arrangement, Kari sings every word with conviction and determination.
But after this flawless opening, the album sadly begins to dip into the realms of predictability.
One Desire is a heartfelt and well-written worship song, but considering we’re only three songs in, it lacks energy. Find You On My Knees sees Kari rediscover some of her earlier vigor, but none of the remaining songs reach the heights of the opening two tracks.
Savior’s Here is an acoustic guitar led song about God’s faithfulness, complete with subtle backing vocals and powerful improvised finish.
Stars In The Sky is a thoughtful reflection on how God sustains both the stars and our individual lives. Both are great songs, but there's little to make them stand out.
Thankfully, the beautiful piano ballad What Love Is This lifts the listeners attention again. Drawing on the powerful imagery of the Centurion’s confession of faith as Jesus died on the cross, the song is full of emotion and meaning as Kari ties the Biblical narrative into her personal story, “Jesus / In your suffering / You are reaching / You thought of me”.
Run To You is the ultimate test of Kari’s vocal abilities. Despite the chorus being needlessly high pitched, the singer doesn’t put a foot wrong.
Rise is a strong, rhythmic declaration of praise while We Exalt Your Name is a beautiful duet with the co-writer of Your Grace Is Enough, Matt Maher.
As the Worship Pastor of Gateway Church Kari has included plenty of songs that are well suited to congregational singing. However, there’s no reason to limit any of Kari’s songs to a Sunday morning.
Produced by the award winning producer, songwriter and engineer Ed Cash (Chris Tomlin, Leeland), it’s unsurprising that Where I Find You is a quality recording from start to finish.
Fans of Phil Wickham will love Kari’s boldness and songwriting abilities, while lovers of Vicky Beeching’s Painting the Invisible album (which Cash also produced) will appreciate Kari’s energetic pop sound.
There’s a simplicity and gentleness to Kari’s music, which is hugely attractive. You won’t find any strange keyboard sounds or guitar solos on this recording. Passion, vocal ability and outstanding production is what it’s all about.
With 11 original songs, plus a cover of Brian Johnson’s Love Came Down clocking in at almost an hour’s worth of music, there’s plenty to be enjoyed on Where I Find You.
While the middle of the album contains a couple of mediocre songs, in the light of Kari’s overall talent, this a mere blip.
And in a world full of pop albums which are good for nothing other than to be used as background music, Where I Find You captures the listener’s imagination wonderfully. Top songwriting, interesting musicianship and quality producing have collided to result in a pop album that deserves to be heard by a very wide audience.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Bible
With more than 20 English Language translations each available in 25 or more different editions the choice of Bibles excites and bewilders. Choosing the right Bible for you is important - even if you already have more than one.
Spiritual Growth
Long overshadowed by the celebrations of Easter Sunday, Lent is being rediscovered as a sacred time of reflection and renewal in its own right and a time of preparation for the joyous seasonal finale.
Featured
Here’s our pick of the top 3 Stocking Fillers this Christmas. You can find even more at our Christmas Store.
News
Heading to a screen near you soon, The Most Reluctant Convert is a feature-length movie about the life and faith of one of England’s greatest Christian writers and thinkers: C.S. Lewis.
Interview
Feby tells her compelling story in her book Walking Him Home. After wrestling with grief and suffering, she shares how God’s healing and faithfulness is enabling her to step into her new life and ministry.
Featured
We are currently in a strange situation. Bible sales are up, but the number of people reading the Bible is going down. Even stranger, this situation is nothing new. There has always been a difference between the number of people who own a Bible and the number of people who regularly read their Bibles.