Get Your Music on Amazon!
Get Your Music - and everything else - on Amazon! All purchases made on Amazon through this link earn a commission for Jesusfreakhideout.com!

JFH Music Review


Ryan Stevenson, 'ABLE'
CLICK COVER TO ENLARGE

Ryan Stevenson
ABLE



Artist Info: Discography
Genre(s): Pop
Album length: 8 tracks: 29 minutes, 15 seconds
Street Date: April 28, 2023


READER RATING:   


Ryan Stevenson is quietly one of the most active songwriters in Christian music for the last decade or so. From his songwriting work with TobyMac ("Speak Life," "Lift You Up") to his own notable (and quite hummable) hits, like "Eye Of The Storm" and "When We Fall Apart," Stevenson has shown himself to be a hardworking and talented artist who has a keen ear for a melodic idea and a heart for pointing to the truth of the gospel.

But his latest album, ABLE, finds Stevenson running in place a bit, with a slew of mid-tempo songs that lack the sort of spark that he brings to the songwriting table. There are, however, a few good-to-great moments here. The opening track, "Closer," is a soulful and poignant look at the tragic and hard moments of life through a new spiritual lens: "I'm talking to someone out there listening, feeling rejected / Like you're too messed up and you're always stuck learning the same old lessons / Looking for purpose in all this pain, looking for sunshine behind the rain / There's more to the story that we haven't seen / So what if every heartbreak is not an accident? / And what if every failure is not a coincidence? / Not a moment wasted, not a tear in vein / I know my God can use anything to draw us closer."

There is an important theological caveat here, though. It's important to note that the Lord is capable and famous for using the mess of our lives (be it something we have done, or something that has been done to us) to draw us closer to Him, but He is not responsible for the evil that befalls us and every person since Adam and Eve made their fateful decision back in Genesis chapter three. There is a needed distinction between the Lord working in the hardship of life to build our character and teach us of our need for Him, and the Lord causing the sadness and evil of our world just to turn around and use it for His purposes.

The title track is a clever, rhythmically interesting celebration of the power and faithfulness of God, while "When We Finally Get There" is a slow-build, epic number that finds Stevenson delivering his most soulful vocal of the album about "crossing the Jordan." (This tune is just begging for a grungy guitar solo and a passionate guest rapper at the song's apex, though.)

But a few too many paint-by-number songs dull the album's overall impact. "The Answer" is a well-meaning but hackneyed song that has the sort of lyrics that get reworked in Christian music almost every year by some artist or another. That's not to say that Jesus is not the "answer for the world today;" it's just that songs like this, with didactic, rote lyrics, commit the writing crime of "telling" and not "showing." Where is the poetic license here to show what an answer might look like? The same problem belies the closing song, "Coming Home," as well.

ABLE is a well-intentioned and well-recorded album that shows Stevenson as a capable veteran artist. But at only eight songs, and with a few too many similar songs here, there is also a sense of an artist phoning it in a bit.

- Review date: 5/8/23, written by Alex Caldwell of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Try Pop Culture Coffee!

 

. Record Label: Gotee Records
. Album length: 8 tracks: 29 minutes, 15 seconds
. Street Date: April 28, 2023
. Buy It: Apple Music
. Buy It: Amazon.com (CD)
. Buy It: Amazon Music (MP3)

  1. Closer (4:03)
  2. ABLE (3:41)
  3. Carry Me (3:49)
  4. Reflection of You (3:33)
  5. When We Finally Get There (3:43)
  6. Risking It All (2:56)
  7. The Answer (3:44)
  8. Coming Home (3:42)

 

 



Leave a Comment

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 

 

                 
Try Pop Culture Coffee!

Search JFH



This Tuesday, June 3, 2025
SINGLES
Sixpence None The Richer The Needle and the Damage Done - Single [Flatiron]

This Friday, June 6, 2025
ALBUMS
CCV Hollow (Deluxe) (independent)
Ben Fuller Walk Through Fire [Provident]
Hopeful. The Wild One - EP (independent)
Christy Nockels King Who Never Sleeps; Anthems for Rest [The Fuel]

SINGLES
7eventh Time Down My Will - Single [BEC]
Bill B. & Cyrus Sonata Kevlar - Single [Syntax]
Elan Brio I'm Satisfied (ft. Henry Israel) - Single (independent)
Aaron Cole NOBODY BUT GOD - Single [Provident]
Equippers Worship Living in Freedom (Live) - Single [DREAM]
Good Weather Forecast Pray - Single [DREAM]
Ic3rd & EJ Swavv Woke Up (ft. CJ Emulous & George.Rose) - Single [Syntax]
King David tha Vessel Consistant - Single (independent)
Brandon Lake Daddy's DNA [Provident]
Myles Maestro Flood (ft. Ace Savage & Shruumi) - Single [Syntax]
Mell Omii Wave - Single [Syntax]
Kevi Morse Mr. Pilot - Single [Syntax]
River Valley Worship Time For Revival - Single [BEC]
Roy Tosh Everything's Gonna Be Alright (feat. PEABOD) - Single [RMG Amplify]
Solachi Voz All I Need - Single [Syntax]
Emilie Weiss Genesis (Studio Sessions) - Single [BEC]
Ayiesha Woods I Have Hope - Single [Backsider]

VINYL
Ironwrath Master Storyteller Vinyl [Girder]

Next Friday, June 13, 2025
ALBUMS
Coqui Death to Your Ego [DREAM]
King's Hammer To Speak In Tongues - EP [Rottweiler]
Brandon Lake King Of Hearts [Provident]
Joel Vaughn Feel It - EP [DREAM]
War of Ages Eternal (15th Anniversary Edition) [Facedown]

SINGLES
CalledOut Music Worthy of It All - Single [Integrity]
Equippers Worship Garment of Praise - Single [DREAM]
Mainstream Worship Near - Single [DREAM Worship]



For all release dates, click here!
 

Check out depositphotos for royalty free images