Music Review: Jadon Lavik - The Road: Acoustic

Genre: Acoustic Pop
Label: BEC Recordings
Release Date: October 20, 2009

Rating: 4/5

My familiarity with Jadon Lavik extended no further than recognizing his song “What If,” which I enjoyed for its exploration of works versus grace a few years back. Lavik has released 2 full-length studio albums (2005’s Moving on Faith and 2006’s Life on the Inside) as well as a collection of hymns on Roots Run Deep (2008). His acoustic pop sound, combined with a solid theological grounding, has gained him a modest following. Now, he’s stripped things completely down on The Road: Acoustic, capturing a truly intimate sound with just his voice, some sparse backup vocals, and a couple guitars.

When I first started listening to this album, I was in my car on the way somewhere, not exactly fully engaged in the music. I wasn’t hugely impressed based on that listen. In fact, I thought it was somewhat boring. The problem, I discovered, wasn’t the music so much as it was me. This is simply music you need to be prepared to listen to, or least you have to be in the mood to slow down and contemplate a little. As I said, there are no bells and whistles here; it’s just acoustic guitars, a couple voices, and the content of the songs. It really does an admirable job capturing that elusive “coffeehouse” feel. It’s not a live show recording, but it sure feels like one at times.

As I said, I hadn’t heard Lavik’s earlier stuff which makes up a lot of this collection. Two of my favorites, however, were from Roots Run Deep: “Come Thou Fount” and “Wonderous Love.” His takes on these classics are fantastic, adding enough acoustic pop flair without trampling on the reverence present in the hymns. He’s just bringing them to a new generation. Another standout was clearly “Father.” The emotion is weighty in this song, as Lavik sings a prayer to God, pouring out his heart in thankfulness against a beautiful acoustic backdrop. Extremely powerful.

Things are picked up a little bit on songs like “Come To Me” and a good version of the aforementioned “What If.” These work well to change things up a bit, but I really think the main strength of this album is the transparency of emotion and performance of the toned down songs. There’s simply no hiding when you have nothing but your acoustic guitar. The songs have to stand on their own when you have nothing with which to distract listeners.

As I said, you’ll have to be in the right mood to appreciate this album. I’d put it in the category with Shawn McDonald’s Live in Seattle in terms of good contemplative acoustic albums (but not quite as good – I love McDonald and Lavik is not at that level in my opinion). Numerous times while listening to this album, I encountered emotions that turned me towards God. That’s the essence of worship, and Lavik is able to take listeners to that place, provided you’re ready to be taken there.



*This album was provided for review by BEC Recordings.