Crowder’s not a fresh face on the music scene, especially since most of that face is buried by a truly impressive beard, but I feel like his music always sounds that way. It’s never the same, and yet it’s always easily identifiable as a Crowder song. Some have referred to him as “folktronica,” and I think that’s a great portmanteau-ic genre. The “folk” grounds it, while the “electronica” allows it to evolve, to mutate, to grow.
American Prodigal by Crowder
All of that being established, this is one of my favorite albums I’ve heard this year. The lyrics are powerful, even haunting, at times. The music, as we already established, is progressive, without being comprised entirely of bleeps and bloops. Furthermore, Crowd depends the genre-confusion by having KB and Tedashii, two well-known rap artists, feature separately on two tracks. (On the deluxe edition, which is what I’ve been listening to, Crowder bumps up the “electronica” side of things by including a remix by the dance music pioneer BT.)
Here’s the music video for “Run Devil Run” which is one of my favorite tracks off the album.
[Video via YouTube]
That’s a song to get you pumped up for work, school, whatever! Of course, that’s not the only notable track on the album.
Favorite Tracks
- “My Victory”
- “Prove It (feat. KB)” (That harmonica on this track is insane! I don’t know why, but I just loved it.)
- “Back to the Garden”
- “All We Sinners”
I think what I love most about Crowder is the collision of styles. It’s a bit of the old and a bit of the new, which is how life should be: old books, new books; family heirlooms, new purchases, etc. Like I said before, that’s what makes every Crowder album different but recognizable. Furthermore, it’s unique and powerful, something that Christian music could do with a bit more of, as time goes on.
So, thanks, Crowder, for all of the good music and the different sound that you inject into the Christian music bubble!
You can buy your copy of American Prodigal in iTunes or Google Play. And you can find out more about Crowder at his website.
– 5.0 Stars
A copy of this album was provided to me by the record company in exchange for an honest review.
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