MercyMe: Lifer

This here is a brilliant album that you absolutely must listen to. Here’s why I think so.

I first stumbled upon MercyMe’s Lifer album in the wee hours of one random weekday morning.

It is quite common for me to be odd hours in the night (and early morning) nowadays, and sometimes, when it’s just me who’s awake while the rest are still snoozing, it can sometimes start to feel a tad lonely. So one of the ways I deal with this is by putting on some music.

Having previously already been a fan of MercyMe, I was happy to find that there was a new album to their name that came out this year and decided to give it a spin. I totally did not regret it.

To sum it up in just a few words, for those of you who love pop music, this one’s literally music to your ears. And even if you’re not one who is familiar with contemporary Christian music, it is likely you will hear something familiar somewhere in the musical arrangement of these songs.

There will those out there who would make parallels to the musical styles of these songs and pull out their secular equivalents for comparison. Or mentions will be made of the musical influences behind the tunes (which involve mostly secular artistes). However, I do not want to go down either path because to be honest, I believe Christian artistes are just as creative and original as their secular counterparts, hence such comparisons are unnecessary 🙂

All I am saying though is that I believe you will still feel right at home with these tunes even if you’re not a current MercyMe fan or are new to contemporary Christian music.

To give you an idea of how much I love this album, let me say that it is one of those where I can literally waltz through every single track and not want to skip a single thing. There aren’t many albums in recent times of which I can say this, so I think this makes it rank pretty high on my list of Superb Albums Out There.

Right from the opening title track, Lifer, there is clearly a upbeat and very much uplifting vibe to the album. This continues right through the entire track list, although there are more contemplative, quieter moments thrown into the mix here and there. The messages of hope and joy and the promise of abundant life that is ours as believers in Jesus Christ shines through very clearly though. And that is as it should be, since this is after all a Christian artiste we are talking about.

From what I gathered through reading other online reviews and listener comments, most people really liked the songs Even If and Happy Dance. I have to agree with this view for Happy Dance, though I am not a huge fan of Even If, but that does not mean I totally dislike it either. I just happen to think it’s more of the stereotypical contemporary Christian song so it’s nothing that outstanding.

Personally, my favourite tracks were Lifer, Happy Dance and Heaven’s Here. I loved them for the lyrics as much as I loved them for the musical arrangements and overall feel to these songs.

I’m not sure what other ways I ought to use to convince you that Lifer is worth a good listen. I guess the best way is to leave you with this music video of Happy Dance to help you experience a small slice of the album for yourself. Hope you’ll like it as much as I did. Enjoy 🙂