Music Review: Trying to Fit the Ocean in a Cup by Josh Wilson

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Honest and fun lyrics
Cons: Similar sound to other songs and artists
The Bottom Line:
Little sets apart
From similar artists but
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Liking This Pop Debut is Easier than Trying to Fit the Ocean in a Cup

If you were to ask me if Christian music needed another pop based male singer songwriter, I'd tell you probably not. There are quite a few on the market today. And as much as I love that style, it's often hard for one to stand out from the others.

Yet along comes Josh Wilson and his debut CD, Trying To Fit The Ocean In A Cup. At first listen, I will admit I basically wrote him off. It sounds like so much else I've heard before. But I gave it a second listen. Then a third. A week later and I only took the CD out of my car to review it.

Not that my first impression hasn't held up. Many of these songs sound similar. They are guitar and piano based pop with a simple if hooky base line. Josh Wilson is a talented musician who plays guitar, piano, keys, bass, melodica, banjo, and percussion at various times over the course of the disc. I'm not faulting him there. And these songs sound fun. This is roll down the windows and turn up the volume music. But there really isn't enough to make it stand out from everything else musically.

The lyrics, however, are what keeps drawing me in. Josh co-wrote every song here, and he has a way with a clever turn of phrase or an analogy that really works for me. And he's got a great sense of humor he shows off a couple times, too. (And if you want proof that he's got a sense of humor, not only does he include a "Thanks to" section in the linear notes, but he's also got a "No thanks to." And the four items in the list made me laugh out loud when I read them.)

For example, "Turn Around" is a song written from God's point of view as he asks us to stop running from him. Yet he manages to do it with a certain humor that is refreshing. For example, in the second verse he says, "You're leaving home to look for the home you have with Me/Like flying around the world to get across the street." That line makes me grin every time.

Not that the CD is all fun and games by any means. The most obvious example of that one is "Oak Avenue." This song is a sobering reminder to never leave things unsaid. I'm not sure if it was inspired by a real event or not, but it is written from the point of view of someone who never got the chance to apologize to a friend before they died in a car crash. Appropriately enough, this song is one of the slower songs on the disc.

Another of the slow songs is "Something's Got to Change." This is a beautiful ballad filled with lush strings and makes for quite a change from the other songs. It's a song that speaks of the struggle to find something to make life worth living.

The disc closes with an up tempo but beautiful ballad called "Beautiful Like This." As Josh looks at the world around him, he wonders how God could consider him beautiful. While it is guitar based, you can hear some strings in this one, too.

And Josh lays out his failures to live righteously on his own is "Savior, Please." Let me tell you, I can identify with his weaknesses and pleas for God's help.

But the two songs I love the most are the two songs that really show off his humor. The first single off the disc is "3 Minute Song," which is, you guessed it, exactly three minutes long. In it, he talks about how impossible it is to adequately describe God in a three minute pop song. The CD's title comes from this song, in fact. While he may come no where close to "Dumb(ing) this down to 3 chords, or maybe 4," this song never fails to bring a smile to my face. And it's simple melody is guaranteed to stick in your head.

The other fun song is "Dear Money," in which he attempts to break up with money. While the lines about how money really leaves us empty are very true, I can't help but smile as such lines as "I'm changing the locks on my pockets now." If only it really were that easy.

I am always drawn to well written and honest lyrics, so I am thrilled to have found Josh Wilson and Trying To Fit The Ocean In A Cup. I do wish there were a little more variety to the music, but it is a fun combination to the words. I hope this is the start of a long career.

CD Length: 44:32

Tracks:

1. The Saints

2. Savior, Please

3. 3 Minute Song

4. Turn Around

5. Let Me Love You

6. Something's Got to Change

7. Tell Me

8. Pull Me Through

9. Oak Avenue

10. Dear Money

11. Beautiful Like This