Matthew West Into The Light Review

Matthew West has quietly become a major player in Christian Music.  He has had the #1 song of the year at radio not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES in the last decade ("More", "You Are Everything", and "The Motions") and "Strong Enough" may make it a fourth time for 2012 if radio keeps it up.  However, while he has been nominated for a few Grammys, he has yet to win a single Dove Award (Christian Music's highest honor).  In fact, none of his #1 singles were even nominated for Song of the Year!  This was especially criminal after the release of his career record The Story of Your Life in October of 2010.  Not only was it his highest selling album and featured two huge radio hits ("My Own Little World" and "Strong Enough"), it also received some of the best reviews of his career.  The Story of Your Life was inspired by letters he received from fans. When he sent out the request to fans for stories from their lives, he received a much larger response than initially anticipated (over 10,000 letters!) and to this day, the letters continue to pour in; therefore, West decided he would follow up Story with another album of songs inspired by his fans' letters.  The end result is Into the Light.

While The Story of Your Life contained songs that dealt with primarily tragedies and major issues such as divorce, rape, cancer, and bullying and written from a perspective that was in the middle of the circumstance, Into the Light seems to take a slightly different angle than its predecessor by dealing more with the overarching themes of these stories in a way that allows for a more universal interpretation and teaching.  A great example of this is the lead single, "Forgiveness", inspired by a mother who forgave her daughter's killer.  While the story is referenced, the theme of the song focuses on the act of forgiving those who don't deserve it, just as Christ forgave us.  "Do Something" continues this trend as West lists a series of tragedies and injustices followed by an exhortation to actually act upon convictions of compassion towards those in need instead of waiting for someone else to do the work.  Each song is inspired by a specific story or letter but the songs themselves attempt to do more than just share the story by gleaning spiritual insight from the experience.

 Musically, West mixes up his sound a bit on Into the Light allowing plenty of room for radio fodder while also trying to return to the more electric sounds found on his first two albums (the classics Happy and History).  "Hello, My Name Is", "Do Something", "Moved By Mercy" (featuring an un-credited but amazing female vocalist) and "We Are The Broken" all feature crunchier guitars, louder rhythms, and more impassioned (and ad-libbed) vocals that we haven't heard from Matt West since his vocal chord surgery. It is encouraging to hear more musical and vocal variety as that was the major complaint issued regarding The Story of Your Life (individually, each song was amazing, but as a whole album of songs, they all seemed to run together a bit).  In the end, Into the Light is a highlight in West's already highlight-filled career and should help his CCM star to continue to rise.  Who knows, maybe this time he'll even garner a Dove Award!

Radio Ready: Forgiveness, Into The Light, Restored, Moved By Mercy, Unchangeable, Love Stands Waiting, Hello My Name Is...

iPod Picks- Moved By Mercy, Do Something, We Are the Broken, Restored, Unchangeable