The first I listened to Jen Bluhm's music, there was something intimately soothing, natural and powerful about her voice and easy-as-you-like guitar style. Her voice reminds me of Lori Chaffer (Waterdeep) - a nice, clear alto. It all seems to come so easy to Jen - her guitar style, her intonation, but mostly her ability to set scripture to music in a way that defies triteness - it all seems so natural. She's not out to showcare...just to use her God-given incredible talent to bless the Church.
I've listened a lot to her Old Testament tracks and have been pleasantly surprised in the way that she has focused in on some of the more obscure texts in the Pentateuch. She employs the minor key for many of her songs and this somehow serves to undergird, in my mind, the Jewishness of the scriptures she's wrapping in music. I could quite easily imagine an ancient Jewish family singing some of these songs around the Passover table.
Jen's guitar playing leaves a lot of space...that is, she does not overplay and for that I am thankful. After all, the purpose for Jen's music is scripture memorization. However, considerable effort is put into the production of a number of these songs - you just have to be quiet to listen for the nuances of the djembe / bongos, the harmony voices or the second guitar.
This to me is the worship equivalent of mainlining - taking the truth of God and sticking it straight into your veins. I don't have to 'get into' this music - I just dive right in. There's no interpretation of lyrics needed, no wondering what the writer meant by that...just the knowledge that these songs are the sonic version of the Shema:
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
(Deuteronomy 6)
Listening to this music, I find scripture beginning to write itself on my heart, to bind itself to my forehead, to become part of the fabric of my day to day existence. Which I think it what God intended all along!
Jen keeps adding new scriptures to her "Anti-Emporium" and has recently started a New Testament section to her website. Every song is free. Jen's gift is an incredible resource and, indeed, gift to the Church.
Tip: Listen to this music on your MP3 player while doing household chores and transform the mundane into the sacred.
Some of my favourites:
I've listened a lot to her Old Testament tracks and have been pleasantly surprised in the way that she has focused in on some of the more obscure texts in the Pentateuch. She employs the minor key for many of her songs and this somehow serves to undergird, in my mind, the Jewishness of the scriptures she's wrapping in music. I could quite easily imagine an ancient Jewish family singing some of these songs around the Passover table.
Jen's guitar playing leaves a lot of space...that is, she does not overplay and for that I am thankful. After all, the purpose for Jen's music is scripture memorization. However, considerable effort is put into the production of a number of these songs - you just have to be quiet to listen for the nuances of the djembe / bongos, the harmony voices or the second guitar.
This to me is the worship equivalent of mainlining - taking the truth of God and sticking it straight into your veins. I don't have to 'get into' this music - I just dive right in. There's no interpretation of lyrics needed, no wondering what the writer meant by that...just the knowledge that these songs are the sonic version of the Shema:
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
(Deuteronomy 6)
Listening to this music, I find scripture beginning to write itself on my heart, to bind itself to my forehead, to become part of the fabric of my day to day existence. Which I think it what God intended all along!
Jen keeps adding new scriptures to her "Anti-Emporium" and has recently started a New Testament section to her website. Every song is free. Jen's gift is an incredible resource and, indeed, gift to the Church.
Tip: Listen to this music on your MP3 player while doing household chores and transform the mundane into the sacred.
Some of my favourites:
- The Lord goes before you
- Deuteronomy 6:4-5