Review

When writing about Misty Edwards, I find it's almost impossible not to employ the term "passionate". Sadly this is one of the most worn out words in the world of worship music, so much so that it has lost some impact over the past few years. But even with its overuse, "passion" still seems to adequately express a universal expectation that worship music should, at least in part, reflect a pursuit of God that is far more intense than all of life's other pursuits. This is exactly why "passion" is so easily attachable to Misty's music, because her music is all about pursuit. Not only does her new CD "Relentless" focus on the human pursuit of God, but also God's relentless pursuit of His people.

You could argue that much of the passion found in today's worship music stems from skillful playing and attention to the craft of songwriting as artists offer up their creativity as offerings of worship. But listening to "Relentless", you get the distinct feeling that the songs were written and birthed out of intense worship. I suspect that this is songwriting that flowed out of the worship process as opposed to worship that flowed out of the songwriting process. The lyrics are sometimes poetic and other times blunt and to the point. Some songs are long on words while some are quite short lyrically. It seems that what is said is more important to Misty than how it is said.

Like in her past projects, Misty sings songs of desire, longing, desperation, surrender and intense passion. The CD opens with a great track "Finally, I Surrender". I could see this song easily catching on in Churches across the globe. It's accessible, easy to learn, but pulls no punches in its message. The CD closes with the track "Doves Eyes" which has a great line that sums up much of the listening/worship experience; "I don't want to talk about You like You're not in the room, I want to look right at You I want to sing right to You."

"Relentless" is really a fantastic, accessible album. Misty hails from International House Of Prayer but the accessibility of her music reminds me more of something in the vain of Rita Springer or Klaus Kuehn than it does hard-core prophetic worship music. To top things off, this CD includes a second 8-track "Unplugged" CD featuring Misty Edward just singing and playing piano. This is truly one of the best artist based studio worship CDs that I have heard in a long time.

Review by Jeremy Dunn