All From You

Sounds like … the worshipful Brit pop/rock of early Delirious or Matt Redman, with a lead vocalist that resembles American Idol's Taylor HicksAt a glance … despite some strong ambience that's suited for personal worship time, the songs are too repetitive and routine sounding in light of better worship efforts available to consumersTrack Listing All From You King Forever You're the Love Have Mercy How Could I Live Without You Come to Me So Near I Love You More Than a Friend Joy Son Shining Thank You

The British first earned a reputation for excellent modern worship in the '90s with Delirious and Matt Redman. Shortly after came a superb Vineyard UK worship team that included Brian Doerksen, Kathryn Scott, and Brenton Brown, releasing the benchmark recordings Come Now Is the Time, Hungry, and Surrender. Those acclaimed songwriters have since moved on to other callings, and the face of Vineyard UK has now turned to the Burn Church in St. Albans, where Samuel Lane and Carly Orpen lead worship. All From You represents their follow-up to 2002's Beautiful.

There's an undeniably strong ambience to this newer team's sound that's well suited to personal worship time. It's a sleepy Brit pop style that's somewhat dated, aiming for but falling short of the same majestic piano-and-guitars pounding as Coldplay. There's still some nostalgic appeal that recalls early Delirious—it's Cutting Edge, but not current sounding. Also interesting is Lane's pinched, soulful tone, which resembles that of American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, though it doesn't vary enough with Orpen only appearing on a few tracks, and not until the fifth.

But the only significant shortcoming here is the songwriting, which just doesn't come close to the depth and catchiness of the older Vineyard UK material. Things start off fine with the upbeat title track derived from Philippians 4:8, but too many tracks are hard to sing along to, and many are overly simplistic. Half of "Come to Me" is spent repeating the title continuously, and half the lyrics are contained in the lines, "You are the light that shines in the dark for all to see/You are the love that takes a broken heart and sets it free." Once the album slows down, there's no break in the tedium until the lively closers "Joy," "Son Shining," and "Thank You." All From You isn't bad, but it's all ultimately too routine sounding when compared to better worship efforts available.