Jesse Eubanks

Item: Meditation, Contemplation, and Prayer
Author: Ken Mueller

Meditation, Contemplation, and Prayer

(2002)

Reviewed by Ken Mueller

Discogs Bandcamp

Label independentThe Phantom Tollbooth2002

ambient dark ambient experimental worship

Worship albums are a dime a dozen these days, and they have become a real cash cow for a number of record labels. And unfortunately, if you've heard one worship album, you've heard them all, with their syrupy lyrics and flowery arrangements.

Well, the multi-talented Jesse Eubanks has come up with something truly new and original, which actually reaches back a few centuries. Meditation, Contemplation, and Prayer is a new drone project along the lines of bands like Charity Empressa. The disc turns worship into a personal, inward activity, urging you to crawl into your prayer closet and offer up praises, rather than stand in a large group and sing the same chorus over and over again, creating what amounts to a public spectacle. It helps the listener create a one-on-one dialogue with the Creator.

The disc starts out with "Creation Cries Out," a simple song of devotion and longing:

I come to you
Broken and bruised
I come to you
Wanting to be made new.

Eubanks plays all of the instruments on this track, with his vocals and a variety of percussion instruments layered over his well-crafted drones. This is followed by "Rain," which uses actual recordings of a rainfall to further show how all of God's creation offers up praises.

With influences that include Charity Empressa, Monk, and more ancient liturgical chants, it is no surprise that the lyrics for "In Praise of God" are taken from a prayer written by St. Francis of Assisi. In this song, God's declaration in scripture of "I Am" is redirected back toward the Divine with repeated phrases of "You are." Many of the songs are quiet instrumentals designed to further inspire the listener to follow the scriptural command of, "Be still, and know that I am God."

If you really seek to worship God, this disc creates quite a contemplative mood and rather than being a distraction, can be a real aid in getting closer to God in a meaningful and lasting way.

4 tocks