Imagine an inventive worship project. No, really, I’m serious. I know, I know, for every David Crowder out there crafting complex songs and imaginative albums, there are nine others remaking songs, playing uninspired G-C-D chord structures and boring us to death. So back to the premise, because it’s original sound and vertical lyrics make 1000 Generations’ Turn Off The Lesser Lights a very refreshing listen.
The husband/wife duo of Steven and Amanda Potaczek have been at this for a while, leading worship in their home Vineyard church in Indianapolis and independent releases have been celebrated by Christianity Today andWorship Leader magazine. Still, Turn Off is their first label release on Vineyard’s new Varietal Records imprint and it’s perhaps their best yet. The almost emo sounds at times will catch the listener off guard and the musical variety lends a pop/rock feel to a worship album – almost so much that you forget what shelf you bought the album from.
“Fail Us Not” is the album’s first single and the without-a-doubt highlight on the album. From the quirky, interesting acoustic opening to the back-and-forth vocal between the Potaczeks, the track remains musically inventive the whole way through. But even with that in mind, the lyrics move from the outset with statements against any anthropomorphic views of God as he is too big to be changed or affected by our own shame or failures. The powerful refrain of “You are bigger than the battle/You are bigger than the battle has ever been” is repeated over and over again at song’s end, lending a power that few songs can truly contain.
The piano melody of “How Big Small Can Be” takes a strong musical turn near the one-minute mark with a quick acoustic strum and solid pop harmonies over the social justice focus in the lyrics. It’s an interesting mix and one that keeps the audience tuned into words about how impact begins at the small, local level. Amanda takes the stage on “Bring Me Down,” a prayer to God asking for humility as we try to walk before him. It’s another honest take and a heartfelt track buoyed by some light string work.
Some of the tracks can flow together as they remain in the middling ballad territory and “Do You Know This Man?” and “What Only You Can Do” get lost in the shuffle. It’s the words and chord progressions that remain predictable here and the songs really contain no variance enough to shake the routine feeling. Still the album redeems itself at the end with the building “Mansions in Floodplains,” which ends up asking the beautiful question, “Don’t you wanna love to live for something more than yourself?” It’s the source of the album’s title track and one of it’s strongest lyrical turns.
Steven and Amanda Potaczek have crafted a strong pop effort here and, better yet, one of the more musically inventive worship albums to come along in some time. While some elements are more impressive than others, as a whole it works wonderfully and 1000 Generations has an album they can truly be proud of.
