Wednesday, November 25, 2009

CD Reviews- Steven Curtis Chapman- Beauty Will Rise

To fully understand and appreciate the theme for Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman’s new album, Beauty Will Rise, you must know the back-story of his daughter’s death last year. Chapman's five-year-old daughter, Maria Sue Chunxi Chapman, was killed in a tragic accident in May of 2008 when she was accidentally hit by her brother’s SUV pulling into the driveway of their home in Franklin, TN. Ironically, the Chapman’s were preparing for a family party celebrating their oldest son’s graduation from high school and their daughter's engagement.

Now, a year and a half after this family tragedy, Chapman has released a personal album that is a tribute to his daughter. Fraught with loss, sorrow and sadness, the story is filled at its core with an unwavering belief that she’s in a better place. Twelve sometimes heart-wrenching songs deal with a difficult burden and a faith that there’s a bigger plan that perhaps we don’t fully understand. It leans heavy on simple acoustic guitar orchestration augmented with piano and some strings- a decidedly pure Americana sound.

As a father with a young daughter of his own, Beauty Will Rise is an incredibly moving series of songs that tug at your heartstrings and place you straight in Chapman’s own shoes. Through time, faith, support and song, could you ultimately heal from that loss? Or at least begin down that road?

No song is more touching than the piano-based “February 20th.” Backed by a haunting cello “singing” harmony behind him, the song recounts the day Chapman and his wife witnessed their young preschooler first pray that someday she would be able to live in God’s house. With raw and emotive lyrics, the song is at once inspirational and heartbreaking.

“And we could never have imagined
She’d be going there so soon/ so soon/ so soon
God only knows everything that happened in that moment
God only knows what he whispered in her heart
Gold only knows just how thankful I will always be
That He gave her mom and me February 20th”


On “See,” Chapman questions not his faith, but his senses and his ability to still feel his daughter around him on another emotional roller-coaster of a song. Unafraid to shy away from sharing his true feelings through his songwriter’s pen and instruments of music, it’s a window to a grief-stricken family and how it must make sense of what can hardly make sense.

“Right now all I can taste are bitter tears
And right now all I can see are clouds of sorrow
From the other side of all this pain
Is that I hear?
Laughing loud and calling out to me?
Saying SEE, it’s everything you said that it would be”


And while the album is specifically written from a father’s perspective, there’s universality to each message that can connect at a soul-level for anyone who has experienced loss. And thus it was for this listener. It moved to the point of tears at two points on the album. Those that don’t recognize music as therapy need to hear this album. It’s as much about God and faith as about the belief that we live on. For the Chapman’s, that means rising up into heaven. For someone else, it might be lifting someone up in memory alone. Borrowing from the lyrics from the title track of the album, “From these ashes, beauty will rise.” Long live little Maria- captured forever in beautiful song.

Four Stars Out Of Five

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful review, although I am not sure I could handle this particular CD with four young kids of my own. I am afraid it would rip my heart out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. God has helped the Chapmans to go through this time and come out testifying of in-depth divine love which they have experienced as a result of this incidnet. For you out there, let this be a lesson from God... that in times of trouble he will guide your heart and mind with His love. You will also overcome. - Marvelous

    ReplyDelete