The Journey by Stuart Townend

2011's The Journey is the second album of a distinctive phase in worship singer-songwriter Stuart Townend's creative career. The previous release, Creation Sings, retained Townend's signature memorable, congregation-friendly melodies and theologically considered, deeply-felt lyrics, but ditched the already-conventional instrumentation and histrionics of the worship in favour of a tightly-structured mid-Altantic folk sound. The Journey expands on that sound to bring in larger forces - more like an orchestral album than the folk band of Creation Sings at times - and add other genres such as sub-Saharan African music and aspects of keyboardist / arranger / co-producer Mark Edwards' beloved jazz, besides an ever more authentic and eclectic reception of the Amero-European folk tradition. The result may not always be polished or safe, but it is certainly exciting and a challenge to the genre it has come out of. ℗ 2011 Integrity Music