Integrity Music
Release Date: August 30th 2019
Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre
David Leonard – The Wait: Silence the Noise (iTunes/Amazon mp3)
Track Listing:
- Wanderer [Acoustic]
- By My Side [Acoustic]
- Signs of Life [Acoustic]
- Know Your Heart [Acoustic]
- Come as You Are [Acoustic]
- Share the Burden [Acoustic]
- There’s Nobody [Acoustic]
- I Will Wait [Acoustic]
- Mysterious Ways [Acoustic]
- Distant God [Acoustic]
- You Know Me [Acoustic]
- Threads [Acoustic]
- The Little That I Know [Acoustic]
‘…when I set out to make The Wait, I didn’t want to have any rules. I wanted to be able to make a record that I felt was creative and push the boundaries. The tough part about that is songs sometimes get lost in production. There have been so many times in the past couple of months where I’ve done interviews and people have asked me why I have stepped away from the corporate worship thing. To me, this is corporate worship. We’re just creating a new sound for it. So the hope with this project is that we allow people to see the songs for what they are; which are worship songs…’ David Leonard is a man of many hats. His most recent one was being part of a worship duo called All Sons and Daughters that recently disbanded as of last year. In fact, for me it’s felt that All Sons and Daughters broke up too soon. With David and Leslie Jordan, the other half of the duo, making music together officially as All Sons and Daughters for the past 7 years, we have been blessed to hear this critically acclaimed duo make some of the most heartfelt, honest, raw, real and most poignant worship songs this generation has ever seen. Songs like ‘Called Me Higher’, ‘Rising Sun’, ‘Oh Our Lord’, ‘All the Poor and Powerless’ and ‘Oh How I Need You’ have been standouts over the years- but as of 2018, the band went their separate ways, and now, All Sons and Daughters are no more. It is a sad moment in Christian music history when a band that is most underrated and equally impacting and poignant decides to take a step back and change the course of their individual music careers. Nevertheless, just as Martin Smith continues to pursue worship music even now, long after the departure of Delirious?, what eventually transpired out of this duo splitting was a reinvigoration of David in his own passion of music, and what has been out of this last year, all culminated in his solo album release The Wait that released in March 2019.
Let me just say this- this new album The Wait is perfect for anyone who miss All Sons and Daughters, and though musically the album has a much more experimental vibe (as opposed to a full fledged worship atmosphere in All Sons and Daughters), David still brings an enthusiasm and heart towards his music that cannot be denied. Emotive and encouraging, anthemic and at times emotional, this musically diverse, yet thematically and biblically firm, album was a definite standout amongst other releases this year. Featuring standout songs like ‘Know Your Heart’, ‘By Your Side’, ‘Come As You Are’ and ‘Wanderer’ to name a few; we are now here about half a year later on, and this time, David has given to us The Wait: Silence the Noise, an acoustic/live album of a similar take to the Phil Wickham Singalong series, as David reimagines all of his album The Wait in an acoustical setting.
This is not an album review- the review for The Wait here on this site did that already. What I will say is this- David’s new album is for anyone who loves intimate worship without all the production. The songs here on this acoustic album are the same as on The Wait. Just without the production. And without it, there’s definitely a more serene, calm, and a general more worship feel, compared to the original versions. Not to say anything against the original workings of the songs, but rather, if there is a lot of production that comes into play, as it did when culminating together the pieces of The Wait, often it’s hard to fully engage with worship with all the noise and clutter. So I guess this album is for anyone who has loved The Wait, but couldn’t get into it fully because of the production side of it. Nevertheless, I’ve heard both albums, and both albums are great. For me, I did feel that there’s a sense of rawness and honesty whenever there is an acoustic/live album delivered as opposed to the original album as it is polished in the studio, and maybe, some people will relate to this project, who didn’t connect with his previous album, or vice versa. And that’s ok. David has given us an album- 2 versions, both with the purpose of facilitating worship at its core. As a fan of David and a music reviewer- both The Wait and The Wait: Silence the Noise, have done their tasks quite well.
I don’t think there is much to say about this album (you can check out my review of The Wait here), so I’ll just create a space of understanding that acoustic music can and should bring about different emotions compared to their original counterparts. For this album, I’ve felt that these acoustic renditions ooze more passion, but that’s just me. I’ve always been partial to the acoustic album- I’ve loved all of Phil Wickam’s Singalong acoustic series, and various other acoustic songs from varying artists, I’ve always admired the fact that they can create a sense of passion and awe, with just their acoustic guitars and their voice. For David, this album, and The Wait before it, are such albums, are such that they can be enjoyed if you enjoy David’s previous work in both All Sons and Daughters as well as needtobreathe, not to mention if you like worship artists like Chris Tomlin, Elevation Worship or Vertical Worship. David is continuing from where All Sons and Daughters left off; and doing it nicely I might add. A standout album (acoustic or otherwise) in August 2019, David’s music career is just begun. Here’s to many more albums of the same quality, or even better, than his first solo album (and first acoustic album too!). Well done David for this collection of 13 songs- a certain to be on rotate and repeat on my iTunes playlist in weeks and months to come!
3 songs to listen to: Know Your Heart, Come As You Are, I Will Wait
Score: 4.5/5
RIYL: All Sons and Daughters, Elevation Worship, Vertical Church Band, needtobreathe, Know Hope Collective