Marvalinn – Thunder of Praise

Marvalinn
Thunder of Praise
Marvalous Music (2011)
http://www.marvalinn.com/

Marvalinn is marvelous.

For her sophomore project, Thunder of Praise, the native Detroiter draws on CCM, gospel, and pop to express her religious emotions.

Marvalinn’s songs are uniformly friendly, simple and melodic. She is a superb songwriter and singer whose voice is pleasant and pop-influenced, a sound one can easily fall in love with.

“Press On,” with its appropriate marching tempo, finds Marvalinn battling evil, dodging flaming arrows with Jesus’ blood as her shield. This song garnered for its singer the number one spot on the American Idol Underground Big Push 2 Faith online competition.

Though its prelude, “By Your Great Mercy,” is balladic and orchestral, the title track is another spirited selection. At the other end of the musical spectrum, “Great I Am” (as in “Yahweh”) is a hypnotic P&W piece in the style of William McDowell’s smash “I Give Myself Away.”

“Completely Amazed” is the album’s finest selection and one of the loveliest songs I’ve heard this year in any category. Its melody and Marvalinn’s singing of it are jaw-droppingly beautiful, an expansive expression of worship rooted in CCM but with gospel techniques tossed in here and there. Also, one cannot listen to this song without thinking that Marvalinn finds some inspiration in the arias of modern Broadway musicals, which this song clearly resembles.

Ah, but it doesn’t stop there. Marvalinn is also a gifted flautist and performs on the album’s three sacred-themed new age instrumentals, including the relaxing “God’s Glorious Light.”

In May of 2008, Marvalinn won fellow Detroiters LaShell and Lee Griffin’s “Dreams Are Possible” competition, and came in second place last year in the Pop/AC division of the “Write About Jesus” songwriting conference. Her Thunder of Praise is a treasure that needs to receive a greater hearing. It is a glimpse into a career that, if continued on its current trajectory, could be something truly wondrous.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “Completely Amazed,” “Press On.”