Faithfully Yours is a theme album: Margaret Becker and worship leader David Edwards have co-written eleven songs centered around the Book of Psalms. This is not your typical worship, as the songs have a logical progression one to another, and they do not fall into the standard verse/chorus/verse/repeat chorus ad infinitum pattern of most modern worship albums.
This album is more in the vein of some of Michael Card's projects. The songs stay within the Scriptures, and are centered around an earthier, acoustic based sound, unlike most of Becker's earlier catalog. Her vocals here are superior to that of Edwards, although he particularly shines on "Strength of the River," which also features the disc's best usage of harmonies.
"Create in Me (Psalm 51)" explores some of the concepts previously expressed in songs by Charlie Peacock and Keith Green, but the new Holman translation used by Becker and Edwards paints it in a slightly different light. Like every song on the CD, there is a .pdf file provided of the song's lead sheet for use in corporate worship settings, a nice bonus.
The only question mark on the album comes in the form of "How Happy", based on Psalm 40. Becker strains to reach notes that would be more accustomed to a gospel choir, and the results fail to reach their potential. I'll stick with U2's "40" when I compile a mix CD of Psalms songs.
It is unclear whether Faithfully Yours is intended to be the first of a series, or is a one off between the two artists, but further work in this vein would be a refreshing diversion away from the current wave of modern worship discs.
3.5 tocks
