Music Review: ‘Beauty Will Rise’ by Steven Curtis Chapman

Written by Mike Parker

I’ve followed Steven Curtis Chapman since his music first hit the airwaves way back in the late 80’s. A fresh-faced kid with an infectious smile, a wild shock of hair, and a doowoppie style of music that drew comparisons to Huey Lewis and the News, it wasn’t long before Steven was topping the charts with regularity only dreamed of by mere mortals. Each new album since 1987’s “First Hand” has been fresh and new, reflecting the subtly shifting musical tastes of the day while somehow always remaining true to his own musical proclivities, and always revealing his own very personal walk with the Lord. 

“Beauty Will Rise” follows in the footsteps of every Steven Curtis Chapman album of the past two decades – fresh, new, achingly honest, and self-revelatory.

By now anyone buying this album is painfully aware of the circumstances that preceded this project. Anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one can relate to every song on this album in one way or another – the questions, the frustration and anger, the ultimate acceptance that there are harsh things in life that we simply don’t understand, and eventually the surrender to the molding of the Potter’s hands.

This is an album of lament.

I’m pretty sure if you took a poll of all of your friends regarding their favorite book of the Bible, that Lamentations wouldn’t make the Top Ten. That is, until someone’s world is rocked to the core by tragedy. That’s when Lamentations begins to make sense. Lament is a legitimate, valuable, and oft-neglected form of worship. “Beauty Will Rise” is a beautiful example of how is used.

I’m not sure I can write a review that can capture the spirit of “Beauty Will Rise.” Beautiful? Yes. Exquisitely crafted with simple acoustic guitar, haunting piano embellishments, rich cello and tasteful orchestration. Lyrical? Yes. Steven Curtis Chapman has always been one of Christian music’s most celebrated wordsmiths. Honest? Yes. Frighteningly so. It is well this album is being released in the fall of the year, for this is Autumn music – suitable for falling leaves, cold rain and a sun that seems to set earlier with each passing day; suitable also for days of harvest and celebrations that remind us that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone.

Mike Parker covers entertainment for LifeWay.com from his home in Middle Tennessee. Visit him online at www.wordcrafts.net.

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