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:

• The Lord goes before you
• Deuteronomy 6:4-5

To access Jen's free music, just click on the pictures of Jen at the top of the post!

I stumbled across Stephen Gates record quite by accident (can't even remember how I got there. All I know is I'm grateful this rabbit trail transpired!

Gates offers a worship record unlike any I've heard. It's quiet, powerful - just one man and his guitar, yet it never feels sparse or empty. I don't know why it's not available anywhere else on the internet except for a single blog - it seems a shame not to give this artist the coverage he deserves (note to Stephen: put your music on www.noisetrade.com at least!)

"I know You don't take a broken heart lightly
I know I can trust you to stand by me
So have mercy on my heart and soul
I know I've been running hard and getting cold
But there's nowhere to go when my heart is in pieces
I know I've been living my life without reason
So I'm asking now
Take me, take me"

These are all songs of redemption, songs of hope. Coming across like a mixture between Jack Johnson (his guitar style) and Jeff Buckley (his vocals - listen to Buckley's "Lover, you should've come over" for a comparison - it's quite striking), Stephen Gates does something special. He manages to sing songs of repentance without slipping into a dirge - the emphasis always seems on hope. His effortless guitar style is a balm to the ears, and his beautifully understated vocals hint at restrained power. I would like to hear Gates really showcase his vocals off now and again (to see if the Buckley comparison bears out in the louder side of the musical register), but then that wouldn't be true to the timbre and flow of the musical style he obviously excels in.

I think this is a fantastic record, and you can check it out (and download it for free) by clicking on one of the pictures above.

OK, so I thought I was excited about "Sweet Sacrifice" (see post below). And then I heard "Come Holy Ghost", and felt my heart turn upside down and inside out. My first impressions are "Damien Rice does worship music". Reminiscent of my other favourite offering of the mysterious, almost eerie side of worship Bifrost Arts , this album raises the hairs on the back of my neck. It's pure honey, yet totally absent of any hint of anything saccharine. Majoring on the minor key, and highlighting the hope found in the dark night of the soul, it stirs something deep within - a reminder that worship music exists outside of CCM's top 50 and that my God is wild, my God is a consuming fire, my God is not safe, my walk with God is not a walk in a rose garden....
Before wasting any more words on recommending this, I just say to click on the image above and follow the instructions.

Here's what the website itself says:

The book of Job is the oldest book of Scripture and it asks one of the oldest questions, 'Is there hope?'

'Is there hope for a tree cut down? ...Yes. At the mere scent of water it will bud and grow green shoots.'

That is what we are discovering together at Church of the Beloved - a hope. Hope that something new is beginning that has very old roots. Hope that God is growing life out of our devastation, trust out of our cynicism, love out of our fear, community out of our isolation.... And that's what this album is about - fumbling into God's grace. It is a seismic and humble shift when our heart can hear the words that God has been saying to us for all our lives, '...nothing can separate you from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus'. These songs say 'Yes' to God's claim upon your life that, 'You are my Beloved.'"

Sweet Sacrifice touches on the themes of lament, loss, slavery and freedom in worship songs created for Lent.

Seattle-based artists Molly McCue, Kurt Dyrhsen and Brian Moss collaborate with longtime Christian artist Michael Card on this project.

Click on the image above to be taken to the website.
Each song is available for download for free. Plus you can download jpeg images of the song lyrics, powerpoint slides of the songs and, for many of the songs, even the written music / chords.

I love particularly these words, from "A Better Freedom"

Christ revealed Himself to me
Enslaved my soul to set me free
I was bound to at Him at Calvary
And found a better freedom

That Soul who suffered in the dark
Has purchased and unchained my heart
A shining slavery did impart
To find a better freedom


The production is flawless, understated and will aid anyone looking to create space for contemplation during Lent. This really is a treat, and a wonderful addition to anyone's Lenten journey.