Drew – I Surrender

Drew
I Surrender
Drew Music Publishing (2010)
http://www.facebook.com/DrewBaxter.NIP

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

On I Surrender, singer-songwriter Drew Baxter of Orlando, Florida is supported by a quintessentially East Coast-sounding praise and worship ensemble called New Inspiration of Praise.

There’s nothing subtle about Drew and New Inspiration of Praise, from their energetic singing to the hard-charging musicianship supporting them. The opening track, “This is Your Time,” is as characteristic of the album’s offerings as is “We Come to Magnify” with its thumping beat. While most of the selections are not individually distinctive, the sum total of the eleven tracks evokes the extroverted, self-confident worship experience one expects from artists such as JJ Hairston and Youthful Praise and James Fortune and FIYA.

Not all of the tracks are sonically energetic. Fans of Shekinah Glory Ministry will enjoy the atmospheric and meditative “You Alone,” and William McDowell enthusiasts will find the hypnotic title track a distant cousin to “I Give Myself Away.” In many respects, the best songs on Drew’s project are the unhurried ones because they are more pointed than effusive.

Regardless of the tempo and in a gravelly and often indistinct voice, Drew directs New Inspiration of Praise on I Surrender to ever loftier levels of worship and ever stronger commitments to discipleship. The group revels in performances such as “Victory,” I Surrender’s finest moment, as a pulsating middle-eastern musical vibe serves as driver and backbone. Much credit is due to the album’s producer H. “Buddy” Lakins and co-producer Apostle Robbie Baxter, who assemble a cadre of aggressive musicians, including real brass, without detonating the final product into a swirl of distorted diffusion.

I Surrender is a collection of performances by a sincere group of singers who want their exhortations of praise heard above the world’s din.

Three of Five Stars

Picks: “We Come to Magnify,” “Victory.”