Fair Trade Services
Release Date: August 9th 2024
Reviewed by: Joshua Andre
Austin French– Broken Home – EP (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Broken Home
- The Church
- God Is Good (All The Time)
- The Lord’s Work
- Eyes On You
- Walls Fall Down
Over the past few of years, I’ve been surprised and shocked in a good way by a lot of things. And one of the things I was shocked greatly by (and this wasn’t in a bad way- not by any means!), was this: that if you listen to Austin French’s debut single “Freedom Hymn”, or any of his other singles such as “Why God”, “Born Again”, “Good Feeling” or “Wide Open”, you probably wouldn’t have believed that he was only 24 years old at the time of his 2018 album releasing. Now I don’t know exactly what I was doing when I was 24 years old, but it certainly wasn’t being in the spotlight and having a music career. So just think about that. While many of us were just figuring out what to do with life, Austin has had this surreal life for the past few years- one that I’m sure he didn’t even plan or envision for himself. Therefore, I’m also sure that you would probably think that someone that young writing music this profound and heartfelt, as evidenced from many tracks on Austin’s debut album Wide Open; is very rare in the music industry, in any genre. I’d say you’d be right- but Austin’s journey isn’t a normal journey. In fact, God has had His hand on Austin for a while now, and the plans He has for him are coming more into fruition than ever before.
In 2020, at 26 years old, Austin, together with his wife Joscelyn, is a full-time worship leader and worship pastor at The Avenue Church in Delray Beach Florida, where around 80 percent of the members were recovering addicts. Austin also had his plate full when he became father to two young boys within months of each other. These big impacting moments of his life formed the basis of his inspiration for a few melodies on Wide Open, while in 2020 we were presented with the follow up project from Austin- a compact 6 song EP titled Wake Up Sleeper. The world being in such an uncertain time due to COVID-19, the world yearning for inspirational and uplifting music that can encourage and help us make it through the day; Austin certainly delivered in terms of catchiness and accessibility here!
But sadly, Austin’s latest EP Broken Home … is a tad too musically and lyrically ‘safe’ and cliché. It doesn’t hit as hard as the previous two releases in my opinion. “Broken Home”, the album opener and title track, is one of the brightest points on this EP though, as Austin delivers a poignant acoustic guitar led ballad that lyrically speaks about Austin’s parents divorcing and what Austin would say to his younger self to comfort and inspire him; while the radio friendly-esque “The Church” speaks about Austin’s hopes and dreams for the church at large, yet while the sentiment is noble, the execution seems forced and not as natural as it could’ve sounded, with plenty of ‘Christianese’ lyrics littered throughout. “God Is Good (All The Time)” follows, and is sadly painful to listen to. Littered with repetition and lyrical cliches, as well as musical blandness and sameness, and CCM-esque musical tropes; “God Is Good” has its heart in the right place. But the execution is off, and I can’t help but feel that the hype for Austin is kinda over, or at least waned considerably. Lyrically, the song is fine, and there’s nothing wrong here whatsoever. Therein lies the point though, and as Austin delivers an ‘ok’ song; it’s forgotten by the end of the track, and now here I go about my day, not being changed nor impacted, but neither offended nor challenged. The words are true- God is indeed good, and He’s good all the time. But regardless of there’s passion or not, it seems like it’s a the run-of-the-mill kind of radio friendly CCM song that ticks all of the boxes and isn’t ‘wow’, but ‘blah’. Again, “The Lord’s Work” is fine, but is neither engaging nor challenging (Unspoken’s songs, which are of a similar musical genre, are much more hard-hitting than this!); while “Eyes On You” is a pop song that is incredibly forgettable and unmemorable. Thankfully, the piano ballad “Walls Fall Down” saves this EP from the pit of mediocrity… but only just- as Austin earnestly sings about God having the ability to knock down all of our walls and adversity in our lives: ‘…there’s a God who can make these walls fall down, turn them all to dust, and the war before you now, He can overcome, when you’re up against impossible, standing in the shadow of Jericho, there is hope, if He can bring castles to the ground, He can make these walls fall down…’.
Becoming a star through the ABC reality TV show Rising Star, Austin French is still a new-ish artist to keep an eye out for. With Wake Up Sleeper EP becoming a favourite of mine for 2020; the relatively new EP is sure to take the world by storm and impact the lives and hearts of many. So what are you guys waiting for? Check out “Wake Up Sleeper”, “Perfect Love”, “Jesus Can” and others…and marvel at the wonder of Austin’s heart for Jesus and passion for worship! Sadly though, shall we pretend that only the EP opener and closer of Broken Home exists and the rest don’t?
3 songs to listen to: Broken Home, The Church, Walls Fall Down
Score: 2/5
RIYL: Finding Favour, Danny Gokey, 33 Miles, Matthew West, Casting Crowns, MercyMe, Building 429, Unspoken