Lindsay Graham “Break Free” Album Review

Prime Cuts: Lord I Pray, Beautiful, Your Love is Enough

Lindsay Graham may be a new name, but there's a resonance of familiarity and authenticity in her vocal cadences that you feel like she's an old friend who has had a deep acquaintance with our own struggles and strife.  Whether she's dealing with the frustration of feeling unloved ("Your Love is Enough") or our self-image ("Beautiful") or our past hurts and disappointments ("Break Free"'), she comes across with a heart-warming assurance that beckons us to listen in to every word she has to say.  Incorporating her own narratives and experiences of her own bouts with depression, Graham isn't just your average spinnng raconteur of sonic tales.  Rather, Graham adds a ring of wisdom to her songs.  Sonically, Graham falls within the singer-songwriter camp with a 90s pop leaning rather than a folkish fare, calling to mind the earlier material of Sara Groves, Leigh Nash, and FFH.

Before we delve into an exposition of the songs, it's good to say a word of introduction to Graham.  Hailing from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and after going through many life changing experiences, Lindsay re-committed her life to God and began to focus on living her life for His glory. In the summer of 2013 Lindsay started working on this, her debut album "Break Free."  As detailed in a recent interview with Hallels, Graham confesses that many of these songs came out of her struggle with depression, of which many were written with tears.  As a result, when you listen to some of her ballads, you can feel as if her heart was about to pop right out of the speakers.  However, never one to just wallow in self-pity, Graham has sought healing from the Lord.  Ever since, not only has Graham's prayers been answered, but she has established "Break Free," a ministry whose sui genesis is to help troubled girls.

With some jaunty electric guitars and a rock-driven percussion, the title cut "Break Free" has a 90s girl-group-esque energetic blast sound tracking Graham's prayer to the Lord for deliverance from her past hurts.  Clipping the electric guitar sound a notch favouring a more stately pop sound is "Never Fail;" an infectious call to our trouble soul to lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus.  Most heartfelt is the ballad "Lord I Pray."  Here Graham is at her vocal best, carefully modulating her voice to bring out the emotional nuances of this honest prayer to God.  Also, worthy of repeated listening is the cinematic "Your Love Is Enough."  For those of us who constantly feel our hearts roving towards the idols of lesser things, "Your Love is Enough" will do our souls eternal good.

Having a heart that seeks to spread the Gospel to troubled teenage girls, "Build 'Em Up" sounds like Graham's theme song.  A song that looks behind our own self towards others, this sound is so countercultural but yet so Christlike.  "Beautiful" is not the Christina Aguilera sound of the same titular.  Rather, it's a Graham original that speaks to young girls (as well as guys) about our identity is rooted in Jesus.  Of note is "The Vow."  Here Graham takes her time to luxuriate in a less clustered guitar-led folkish backing as she expresses again her commitment to God with a heartfelt rectitude.  At the end of the day, "Break Free" may be the album that help us alienate ourselves from sin and its repercussions, but it's also the album that glues us to Jesus and His grace via Graham's razor-sharp songs and her shimmering honesty. 

 

 

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