Music Review: Undone by MercyMe

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Good songs
Cons: That don't stand out from each other
The Bottom Line:
Some more great music
Sounds like other releases
Needed style change




A Threepeat, Which Means Things are Getting a Little Old

Undone was an interesting release for MercyMe. Technically, it was the third major label release for this Christian band. However, their hit song "I Can Only Imagine" had just hit mainstream radio in the last year, becoming a mega hit. So all eyes were on the band to see how they would follow up their sudden rise to fame.

They followed it up by playing it safe for the most part. Over their first two releases, they had mastered the pop/rock blend that can appeal to either genre lover. They do it very well. And they do it again here. Almost every song is a mid-tempo track with guitar and keyboard prominent but bass and drums obvious in the background.

Of course, the obvious problem with that familiarity is that it all begins to sound the same. That's certainly the case here. By the time you get to the end of the CD, all the songs begin to run together.

The similarity of the songs was an even greater factor for me. I had resisted joining the MercyMe bandwagon for several years but finally given up just a few months before this CD came out. I had immediately fallen in love with their first two releases and listened to them quite a bit by that time. I stuck this one in and felt like it was more of the same.

Now it's funny for me to write that because I'm not a big fan of change for change sake. Heck, I love several artists that people accuse of never changing from one release to another. But in this case, the pop/rock sound was growing so familiar that I was beginning to tune out the disc, not paying attention to the words. So for me, that is just wasting my time.

However, I stuck with this disc and began to find the incredible lyrics behind the familiar sound.

For me, the big single of the disc is "Homesick." Many people saw it as a follow up/companion to "I Can Only Imagine," and maybe it is. But, as the linear notes point out, this song grew out of the loss of several people close to the band members as they were working on the disc. It's one of the slower songs on the disc and incorporates strings to really make it stand out. The song struggles with the mourning for death while knowing that the person is in Heaven. Ultimately, it expresses the desire to be in Heaven where goodbye isn't in the vocabulary.

Another favorite is "A Million Miles Away." Cut from the pop/rock cloth I was describing earlier, the song reminds us that God is always near "'Cause how can You save the day/If You're a million miles away." I can always use another reminder of God's presence, so I love the song.

Over the course of the disc, the band touches on such themes as following God ("Where You Lead Me" and "Caught up in the Middle"), experiencing God's presence ("Here with Me" and "Unaware"), and living our lives for eternity ("In the Blink of an Eye").

The title track actually comes near the end of the disc. "Undone" celebrates weakness, or at least that fact that God is still involved in every aspect of our lives. So when things go differently then we had planned, we know that God is still in control.

The final track is a little different from most songs, but it is one of my favorites. Instead of two verses, one chorus, and a bridge, they sing the lyrics once and that's it. It's a slow piano ballad with no other instruments, so the song is almost three minutes long as it is. In many ways it summarizes the struggles of their last year as they talk about the need to "Keep Singing" even during the middle of a trial.

Despite the similar sounds of Undone, I do still enjoy this MercyMe release. It's just not their strongest project. Fortunately, they changed things up on their next CD, which is their strongest to date.

CD Length: 47:44

Tracks:

1. Where You Lead Me

2. Everything Impossible

3. Here with Me

4. In the Blink of an Eye

5. Unaware

6. Homesick

7. When You Spoke My Name

8. A Million Miles Away

9. Caught up in the Middle

10. Never Alone

11. Undone

12. Shine on

13. Keep Singing