Audrey Assad - Fortunate Fall

Audrey Assad's Heart was a nice surprise last year. Beautifully crafted songs with strong melodies that held more depth and substance than your average run of the mill CCM record. So it wasn't really surprising to me when Assad announced she was without a label and was funding Fortunate Fall with Kickstarter. Whether her choice or Sparrow's, the move away from the label made sense.

Fortunate Fall doesn't have the radio pop singles that Assad's first two records had. The upbeat, catchy tracks that made me take notice on Heart are gone. But Fortunate Fall is a better, more well rounded record. There are still catchy choruses and upbeat songs, but it's not those pop singles.

When Assad announced in her video campaign for the record that she wanted to make an album of church music, she wasn't kidding. Fortunate Fall is a beautiful record, full of deep theology and great worshipful tunes.

Musically, the songs are simpler arrangements and instrumentation. The driving force for each song is Assad's voice and lyrics. Most of the songs consist of only piano and vocals. Occasional string sections, and some minor instrumentation here and there (drums, bass, and a little guitar), but the record is simple. Simple, yet beautiful.

Songs like Help My Unbelief, Humble, and I Shall Not Want welcome in a sense honesty and brokenness through worship. Inviting God to heal and guide in the daily struggles. Fortunate Fall and Oh Happy Fault declare the need to grace and resurrection.

From top to bottom, Fortunate Fall is a beautiful worship record. Audrey has outdone what she's done int he past. She wanted to create an album for churches and she's done that. Fortunate Fall's simplicity is what makes it so beautiful and compelling. This isn't a record to pass on.