All That Is Within Me
Artist: MercyMe
Label: INO/Columbia
Length: 10 songs / 43:57

Oh, if only I wasn't afraid of the treadware on my tires!

That's my reason for having missed MercyMe's most recent concert at a church a bit over 90 miles away from me. I could have heard them do songs from this sixth longplayer of theirs, All That Is Within Me. And it may have been worth the risk.

That's because this is about as fulfilling and complete an artistic statement within high-gloss CCM as a body is likely to hear by an American band this year. Though I've always enjoyed the band's radio singles, I'm now sold on them as an album act.

It helps when MM leader Bart Millard and his bunch revised the melody of Tom Pett's "Mary Jane's Last Dance" as orchestrally exultant neo-psychedelia on the opening track/default title track "Goodbye Ordinary." Following that with spins on dance-rock and straight-up disco that split the difference between '80s U2 and '00s Franz Ferdinand ("Time Has Come," with its unobtrustive children's choir, and the bridge of "I Know") have me thinking all the better of these
guys.

String section surges and clubby beats are revisited elsewhere throughout (though not often in the same songs) alongside softer, folkier textures. Among the most successful of the latter is Millard's sequel-of-sorts to his group's breakthrough hit, "I Can Only Imagine"--"Finally Home" goes beyond the imagining to articulating the peace a soul finds at home with his Creator, and again, Millard obliquely references his dad's passing into glory.

Structurally, the album sounds like a suite moving from the first number's declaration to praise and worship themes, with most cuts having no break of silence between them. "Grace Tells Another Story" breaks from the lyrical verticality and could well provide MM with their next general market adult contemporary radio biggie ("All Right" is in the running, too; love that trumpet!). The overall suite concept works with a minimum of pretension.

Beyond the keen catchiness of their sound, MM can be furthermore appreciated for their theological/doctrinal soundness. The album's first cut may on one level be taken as an affirmation of scripturally circumspect word-faith and emergence trends, but the rest of the album puts that song in sufficient perspective.

So, here's hoping to see MercyMe next they come within a reasonable drive for me. I got new tires, and any song from this gem should be lovely performed live.

Jamie Lee Rake December 28, 2007