Borrowed Breath

There is a balance that many cannot strike when it comes to fully realizing and declaring our depraved nature, yet viewing this plight with optimism. Jason Gray, in his new album “Everything Sad Is Coming Untrue” strikes this balance. The consistent theme running through this album is that Jason is a sinner being healed. The tone of this record is more of an intimate coffeehouse setting, rather than a packed concert hall or live worship experience. Although there are few songs which could easily be adapted for corporate worship, most are engaging story songs that help you get to know Jason and yourself better.

I’ve never put an album together. But I am sure that a lot of thought goes into picking the first track, for it will inadvertently set the tone for the whole listening experience. And Jason picked a winner for his first track. “More Like Falling in Love” draws a clear distinction between religion and relationship, and our dire need for the latter. This may be my favorite song on the album.

The second song is “Everything Sad is Coming Untrue (Part 1)”. In this song, we discover the hope that keeps this songwriter going when everything in sight is a mess. We discover hope in its unashamed beauty flying in the face of despair.

Track number three, entitled “For the First Time Again,” brings much needed truth to the fact that, though we are fully forgiven upon our salvation, we are actually being saved day after day after day. Sanctification sometimes feels like we are being born again…again.

If the first track is not my favorite, then the fourth song, “Fade With Our Voices” is. This song, with a very catchy melody line, calls into question our orthodoxy versus our orthopraxis, or how our beliefs affect our conduct. Jason asks if our worship has hands and feet, or is it simply in our songs. And he ends with a prayer that our worship would indeed transcend melodic noise and rise up to be alive, changing the world around us.

In song number five, “Holding the Key,” Jason transparently reveals his need for fellowship and community and accountability, and then extends all of these to others. It is easy in our society to fall into the snare of independence. But our varied forays into self-sufficiency have proven the folly of such a train of thought. And Jason, clearly with some experience in this area, cries out for companionship.

Track six, “How I Ended Up Here” is a vulnerable confession that is too specific not to be a based on a real event. In my opinion, this track could have used one more pass in the editing stage. Even though it could have been cleaned up a bit, the message was not lost.

“Help Me, Thank You” is a catchy little ditty that breaks down prayer into two simple topics, cries for help and gratitude. This is a fun song that I would love to hear live.

Song number eight, “Better Way to Live,” is an encouraging word to those who feel locked in a cycle of despair. The singer starts by singing verse one to someone else and switches to an autobiographical tone in verse two and closes with an all-inclusive verse three. My favorite lines are: “When we learn to love mercy, More than being right”. Good stuff.

While most of the songs on this album are telling a story, “Hold Me Back” is clearly a prayer of a desperate man who knows that he will, if left to himself, run from the love of God.

“The Golden Boy & The Prodigal” is a creative exploration of the warfare that the apostle of Paul knew so well when he wrote Romans 7, and with which we are all too familiar ourselves. At the risk of revealing my own ignorance, I must confess that I had to look up the definition of “doppelganger.” The double life of any follower of Jesus is one to which we can all relate, and one which Jason writes so well here. A slight twist at the end reveals who gets the better end of the bargain.

Track number eleven is entitled “Jesus Use Me, I’m Yours.” It is a beautiful prayer of surrender.

When I first listened to this album straight through, I thought the song “I Am New” was the last song. And I felt it was a perfect close to the record, bringing full circle the emotions that had been stirred by each song. It is a striking song of confession and hope and confidence in restoration and redemption.

But Jason knew better than I and actually closed the album with “Everything Sad is Coming Untrue (Part 2)” This verse brings clarity to the whole record:
”The winter can make us wonder

If spring was ever true

But every winter breaks upon

The Easter lily’s bloom

Could it be everything sad is coming untrue?

Could you believe everything sad is coming untrue?”

Upon my first listen, this album did not jump out at me as a monumental piece of art. But like good art, it is so full of layered beauty that it takes time to appreciate it. And like all truth, it transcends our limited expressions and hovers over our vast experiences. “Everything Sad is Coming Untrue” is truth and it is beauty. Jason is a gifted lyricist and musician. And he is a vital voice in an industry all too content with clichés.

If there is one reoccurring theme to this album, it is hope. And I don’t know about you, but I sure need it.