Hailing from Minneapolis, Jason Upton started his musical career by singing in churches around the country when he was just 15. After completing the Masters of Divinity program at Regent University with his wife, the two began to take worship music even more seriously and turned their home into a regular place of worship. This committment to worship is further expressed in his continued worship conference performances all around the country.
Jason sounds a lot like the early works of the late Keith Green — in his passionate vocal delivery and piano playing. Like Keith, Jason’s voice is oozing with passion. He has an excellent tenor vocal range, able to bring his voice down to a gentle whisper in one song and cry out in joy or pain in the next song. These moments of exuberance are particularly evident in the extended improvisational passages. There are songs on
As a songwriter, Jason displays a certain degree of originality, and here again he recalls some of Keith Green’s music. The seemingly improvised title track asks the Lord to help us build our faith and reject the false messages this world gives. The song builds from Jason’s solo voice and gradually adds all the instruments into a joyous musical jam session. The exciting opening song "Give Me One Reason" asks others to come up with one good reason to not have faith in Jesus; musically, it’s part Keith Green and part Ben Folds Five. I also loved the beautiful and powerful melody of the ballad "Glory Come Down." Jason approaches worship as a songwriter rather than a worship writer, meaning the songs aren’t exactly easy to sing with when compared to the overly simplistic worship songs many are accustomed to hearing. I’m even a bit inclined to call this an inspirational recording rather than a worship project. Nevertheless, Jason uses these songs to lead worship regularly, and I applaud him for adding something different to the genre.
I wish I had nothing but praise for Jason Upton’s debut, but unfortunately there are some significant weaknesses to the album. It could be argued that Jason sounds a little too much like Keith Green. Several songs sound like Keith’s inspirational ballads, while "Freedom" recalls Keith’s "So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt" in one verse and convicts the church like Keith’s "Asleep In the Light" with the next verse. There’s even an altar call inspired song with "Come Up Here," which Keith was also well-known for at his concerts. Also, as good as many of the songs sound, all the uptempo songs have the same 3/4 or 6/8 feel to them. The fact that all the ballads generally have the same feel only lends to the monotony and magnifies the similarity between the uptempo songs.
Then there’s the matter of length. Normally, I’m a proponent of more music for your money, but
This is a tough recording to critique, and in the end I would recommend the artist over the album.