Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Decent songs...
Cons: ...that sound
way too similar to enjoy as a full disc.
The Bottom Line:
Single songs are good
But combine them as a whole
Sounds too similar
I bought Jonny Diaz’s first label release when it came out a
couple years ago, and I enjoyed it despite some weaknesses. So when I found out
that his self-titled follow up was due, I pre-ordered it. As soon as it came, I
popped it into the CD player. And I was underwhelmed. Knowing that sometimes
that’s just because I wasn’t in the mood, I put it away to pull out again. I’ve
been doing that on and off again for two months now, and it’s still only okay.
This is another in a line of discs where I like the songs on
their own, but as a disc they don’t work for me. There are several great songs
here. But despite attempts to spice things up with strings or horns upon
occasion, there is a sameness to the songs. They are all pretty much mid-tempo
guitar heavy songs. There is little to separate one song from another, and I
find myself tuning out after one or two songs.
Which is a shame because the messages of the song are still
quite good. “Delights in You” starts things off reminding us that God loves us
and “No matter where you’ve been/No matter what you’ve done.” After a cello in
the intro, this one becomes guitar dependent, but is an easy melody to learn,
so I find myself singing along without even thinking about it.
A similar theme is picked up in “God is Watching,” which
talks about how God is always there even when the people we should be able to
depend on like a spouse or parents abandon us.
By the time we’ve hit “Cross the Line,” I’ve definitely
begun to tune out. It’s a call to repentance, but it sounds like the track
we’ve just heard. Heck, the melody is hardly any different from the previous
track.
There is a slightly different, upbeat rhythm to shake things
up on “Beauty of the Cross.” I could easily see this song becoming a church
standard for worship in the years to come. The upbeat works well and the lyrics
about what the cross means for us.
Another song I really do like here is “How Can It Be,” which
marvels that the God who holds the stars in His hand knows the number of hairs
on my head. That truth is something I love to marvel over, so any song on that
theme usually grabs me the first time through, and that was the case here the first
time I really hard the lyrics.
While I really do like the last two songs I’ve talked about,
they still sound similar enough to everything else that it is easy for them to
get lost in the shuffle. At the same time, I can’t point to any particular song
and say I hate it. It’s just that they all sound so similar to me that I get
bored with the disc.
Like his first release, this song has a bonus, humorous,
track. This time around, it’s “The Chick-fil-A Song,” an ode to the fast food
restaurant. It’s funny and always makes me crack a smile.
As I said in the title, I want to like this disc more than I
do because the individual songs are good. But as a whole, Jonny Diaz disappoints. Hopefully, he’ll find a way to spice things up on future releases.
CD Length: 46:23
Tracks:
1. Delight in You
2. Break My Heart
3. God is Watching
4. Cross the Line
5. Beauty of the Cross
6. Figured Out
7. Love I’m Living For
8. How Can It Be
9. Weeps for You
10. Here and Someday
11. What Water Can Do
12. The Chick-fil-A Song
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