Where the songs of Love Called Her Home made more drastic jumps from genre to genre, The Lord is There is more uniform. Occasionally, there is a hint of gospel or folk elements (which are a nod to Vandereijk's North Carolina roots), but the album feels mostly like a chamber pop/rock set. In some ways, it's like Lauren Daigle meets Rich Mullins in its sound. Vandereijk's voice is the distinguishing feature, though. Where some female artists lean into a breathy expression, Vandereijk's vocals are full and strong. Whether she's singing at a lower register or belting her notes, Vandereijk uses her voice as an instrument to better each song.
If the album's title is The Lord is There, the individual songs teach about where God is. From the opener, "Wave of Mercy," to the hopeful ending of "He's Coming," Vandereijk wants the listener to feel God's love and grace closely. The songs are worshipful in nature, especially tracks "Always" and "We Will Overcome," which feel like they could garner radio airplay or be used in a church setting. Occasionally, Vandereijk leans into her more poetic side with tracks like "Wake Up, Boy" or "Waters of the Deep," the latter of which even broaches the topic of judgment (using the days of Noah as a metaphor). Like the music, it's a good mix that adds to the contemplative charm of the record.
As far as debuts go, The Lord is There doesn't really swing for the fences in hopes to impress. However, it also doesn't swing and miss, either. There are a couple tracks that feel like they drag on a little longer than needed (such as "Open Up the Doors"), but even then Vandereijk and company manage to keep things engaging. Fans of Daigle or even Nicole C. Mullens should find a pleasant discovery in Regina Vandereijk's new album.
- Review date: 2/11/25, written by John Underdown of Jesusfreakhideout.com
Record Label: None
Album length: 10 tracks: 52 minutes, 32 seconds
Street Date: September 20, 2024
Buy It: Amazon Music
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Regina Vandereijk: I grew up in Western North Carolina in a musical family-my dad is a singer/songwriter and blues guitarist, and my mom is a classical pianist. I started taking piano lessons with her and later studied music in other areas. Although I was more interested in high school musicals and rock bands, my mom encouraged me to stick with my musical pursuits. By 15, I landed my first vocal role, and at 17, I took a break from solo singing. I joined a pre-professional choir, where my vocal training set me apart and led to solo opportunities. A challenging solo caused vocal nodules, leading me to forced rest and eventually refocus on learning proper vocal technique.
At 22, I moved to Colorado to study with a renowned teacher, gaining experience performing with various groups. During this period, I gave my life to Jesus, was baptized, and chose to use my voice for God's service, stepping away from a secular music career. I moved back to North Carolina and waited for direction. A friend's unexpected offer of a free plane ticket to Salzburg led to auditions in Europe, which resulted in an offer to join a Studio in Amsterdam, where I made my European debut in various concert halls in Europe.
After coming to faith in Jesus, my songwriting deepened as a way to connect with God. I've led worship regularly at church and taught music lessons (singing, guitar, piano), along with songwriting, band coaching, and music theory, at the School of Worship that my husband and I co-founded.
Regina: As a songwriter, this experience made me appreciate being American, and I think my album sounds the way it does today because of it. While my European colleagues could study American genres like blues, southern rock, and country music, they couldn't truly "feel" them, which was sometimes frustrating in the collaboration process. (I attempted a few times in my first years in Europe to step out in recording songs, but ran into this challenge with European studio musicians. This does not apply to the current album. Thank God!) Growing up in the American South, I understand the heat of Alabama and Georgia and the wildness and isolation of the mountains of North Carolina. These environmental factors shape the nuances of music, influencing how different genres are created and performed. This insight helped me grasp how deeply language, culture, regional influences, and even climate impact musical expression no matter the genre.
Another key influence on my music was the role of British musicians in shaping American popular music. The transatlantic connection between the U.S. and the U.K. has had a profound impact, especially with the way UK and Irish youth culture transformed American music in the latter half of the 20th century. I grew up listening to bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream, Blur, Oasis, Radiohead, U2, and Coldplay which continuously transformed the sound of American popular music, giving birth to subcultures and genres that shaped contemporary music.
The musicians on the album were experts in both the American and British sound, and I learned so much from working with them. We all had a good laugh when I would occasionally begin to recognize throughout the recording process what the "British Sound" was. I would shout from my little recording box, "It needs to sound more American!" They knew exactly what I meant. (You can't really explain that in an interview. :)
Regina: I collected over 40 songs that I considered finished and good, and I sent them to Trevor Michael. I couldn't believe it, but he listened to all 40 songs. He picked out 14 that spoke to him. Four of them became the EP Love Called Her Home and ten songs became the album The Lord Is There. Trevor asked me to make the demos. I think he knew I had a specific sound for each song. During and after the pre-production process, I sat down and prayed, "God, all 14 of these songs were birthed from a place of intimacy with you. What's the message?" I felt the Lord lead my thoughts to an incredibly clear message and order-first for the four songs on the EP and then for the ten songs on the album. Stylistically, the songs all fit together incredibly well in tempo and key, but it wasn't the style that drove the order-it was the message. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I was blown away by how God longs to lead and help us in our work.
Stylistically, I knew each song on the EP told my story: How I got born again. I felt like it needed to be told with an old Southern sound. The sounds of the South are pretty diverse. In the mountains, you have bluegrass and folk; in Georgia/Alabama, where my dad comes from, you get more of a blues/swampy sound. In the plains of Tennessee, it's country/pop. Not to mention that Southern Rock & retro soul. So I just hit them all honestly, and in our Southern Baptist church growing up, there was gospel. So, I just thought, why not? For the album, it seems like God brought it all together, and it ended up with more rock and pop influences, which I also grew up with. That felt right, with a bit of that roots sound mixed in.
Regina: My mom played Rich Mullins in our house a lot, but until you asked that question and I googled his songs, I didn't even realize I grew up listening to him. True story!) First and foremost, my Dad. To understand his style you could listen to my brother Barrett Davis who has an album out similar to the style my dad writes in. My dad doesn't have an album, unfortunately. Michael Card was another big influence-my parents were huge fans of his. I also grew up listening to and playing along with the female rock albums of the '90s & 2000s, a long list of artists from that era. Specific influences include Kenny Loggins, Jim Croce, Lauryn Hill, the Fugees, Radiohead, Jewel, Paul McCartney (I prefer him to the Beatles as a whole), Andrew Bird, Coldplay, and U2. I studied opera and worked full-time in the field for 10 years, so classical and operatic music expanded the way I write melodies. After I was born again 17 years ago, I began listening to completely different artists: Ascend the Hill, Misty Edwards, For Today, the Helsers, Josh Garrels, Jeremy Riddle, Enter the Worship Circle, and Shane & Shane.
And Yes, a couple of Jason Upton songs deeply touched me, but I don't know his work very well.
Regina:I had a family member struggling with depression, and I wrote it directly for them. I even got to sing it over them regularly as a prayer and an invitation to friendship. It also served as a response in my own heart to a direct call to repentance on my journey. I thought about verses from Proverbs, there are 12 verses in various passages about being a sluggard. When I first came to faith, I would keep those verses in my pocket and recite them from memory. Confronting laziness in myself, I realized I had a very negative view of repentance. But I came to understand that repentance is a loving Father,
who created an incredible world for all of us to discover, explore, and take care of-and He can't wait to share each day with us. Like it says in the song: Turn away from sin, turn to God, and change the way you think. but that happens on a deeply relational level. It was a cool process of loving my family member in their tough spot, reflecting on my shortcomings with God, and receiving the grace and love He wanted to give me for myself and others. Jesus said repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached, Wake Up Boy is one way of preaching repentance through music.
Regina: Writing "Waters of the Deep" started with a desire to hear from the Lord, so I began waking up before sunrise to listen in silence. Each day, I waited, trying not to fall back asleep. Most mornings, I didn't feel any clear direction, but one day, as rain poured outside, a melody came into my mind. I felt a prompting from the Lord to write. As the lyrics flowed, I was struck by their intensity. There was no anger or vengeance-just a longing to be with God. As I wrote, I felt His presence grow, and I began to weep, but this time, I wept with sorrowful repentance, sensing that this was the heart God was looking for today. By the second chorus, I laid down my pen-only the first part was finished. I pondered the lyrics for weeks, unsure of what God wanted me to do with them.
As the months passed, I played the first part repeatedly, seeking the Lord for an answer. Then, one day, the second part came. I realized it was a testimony of personal deliverance. Water is a key symbol of deliverance in the Bible: God delivered Noah, Moses, His people through the Red Sea, and me through baptism into Jesus Christ. He delivered Joshua, Jonah, Jacob, and David-He is the God of many waters.
Noah's ark is a symbol of the cross. Andy Thorpe puts it this way: "In the Noah story, the wicked die, and the righteous are saved. In the Jesus story, the righteous one dies, so the wicked can be saved." When I sang, "You're the God of many waters," I didn't fully grasp its meaning. But as the words and music came together, I felt the waters tossing me, like Jonah and Moses, and like I felt in my water grave in 2007. His covenant love of grace commands His kindness. He has vowed Himself to me-a sinful, wicked, guilty person who did not deserve it, yet was made spotless, clean, and righteous by the blood of the Lamb. The one righteous man. My response: praise and gratitude.
Regina: I think you're referring to "Wave of Mercy," "You're the Light," and "Open Up the Doors." We all went to the studio with lead sheets and demos of those songs at the 4-minute mark. Everything that happened was live and unrehearsed. On those tracks in particular, something about the message resonated with the band, and they just went for it. As a songwriter and Worship Leader, I've led House of Prayer-style sets that are hours long, so I'm used to singing Scripture or whatever impression I feel the Lord is putting on my heart. In the studio, it came as a surprise that the band kept going beyond the lead sheet. But I felt like I had to let them play as we felt led, just surrendering and singing what I felt God was putting on my heart and they played what God was putting on their hearts. At one point, Trevor suggested we keep the music and cut the singing, but after listening carefully, he decided to keep both the singing and the music. He could've made cuts, but no one wanted to-everything felt too real and too important. If God wanted to say something, we just wanted to make space for it.
Regina: Royal Increase came into being through a series of prompts and encouragements from the body of Christ (prophetic words). My husband, Willem Vandereijk, co-leads a church that is part of a larger international family of churches called New Frontiers. Within this global network, pastors and teachers come together to equip churches worldwide. Over time, we received numerous confirmations that we were meant to step out and start Royal Increase, which seemed to follow almost a blueprint of what God wanted this collective to look like, revealed through the body of Christ over time.
We began by gathering musicians and creatives-church members and individuals from other New Frontiers churches. Some of them were involved in international missions through different networks, and it was during this time that I connected with Trevor Michael. Trevor has a Label of his own, 7 Core Music, but to my great surprise, Trevor was also part of the New Frontiers network and had connections to my past church, Woodman Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs, an independent, nondenominational Church. It was such a cool connection, and Trevor and I were honestly blown away by how everything came together.
One of our primary initiatives has been the School of Worship Outreach Discipleship. We've had the privilege of seeing so many students write incredible songs as part of this program, as well as helping them share their songs through outreaches in various parts of the community. We're learning and growing from the current album release project, with the hope of blessing the next generation through future Royal Increase initiatives.
Regina: We'll be in the U.S. at the end of February and the beginning of March. In prayer, we feel a green light from God to travel and play wherever He opens doors for us. I'm in touch with festivals in the Netherlands and have reached out to festivals in the U.K. and the U.S. I'll continue working with my husband in Gouda, making disciples and serving the local church and our family of churches. We're also looking forward to releasing a few radio edits of Waters of the Deep and You're the Light, as well as acoustic and lyric videos. Co-writes are in the works, too. I'll continue working with Royal Increase Music as long as I get a green light from God. We hope more albums will follow, but nothing concrete for now. Check my website, streaming links, and socials for updates on where I'll be playing.
Regina: People are welcome to reach out on Socials & via my website, where they can join my mailing list. I think it's so important that people pray that God's will be done. That applies to everything, specifically our family, the music, the label, and the school. Jesus promised, "Abide in me and I will abide in you, and you will bear much fruit, as my Father, the Gardener, prunes you along the way." The fruit God wants us to bear, the size He wants our family to be, and the ways He wants us to grow are all part of His plan. If they feel the Holy Spirit is leading them to invite us to visit, listen to the Lord, ask Him for His will, and then take a step of faith.
Regina: A week in a snowy forest - (that's a tough one, though! I love water, but since it's February and still winter, I'll go with the snowy forest.)
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