Bree Noble: Healing Waters
Review
The thing that strikes me immediately in my first listen-through of “Healing Waters” is how intimate and optimistic it is. Not all albums give you the strong sense of identity that this one does; listening to “Healing Waters” feels like a musical conversation with a new friend. Bree Noble has poured a large measure of herself into this project, and the thumbprints of veteran CCM producer Allan Licht are easily visible as well. “Healing Waters” offers eleven original tracks of CCM pop covering the gamut of current common experience: relationships, fear, mistrust, family life and homelessness issues. She dresses her songs in warm mid-tempo stories, not unlike Mark Schultz and even the more rock-driven Casting Crowns. The piano ballad “Why Can’t I Go Home?” describes the grief involved in a visit to a loved one who struggles with mental confusion, and “My Front Door” powerfully shares the feelings of one who hides just inside the door after a stranger knocks. Noble crafts these settings rich with familiarity so she can then imbue them with a godly perspective. Her message is easily received when presented in the pleasant packaging of her warm vocals against a quiet keyboard or guitar-driven background.
Standout tracks include: the melodic piano ballad “You Are My Vision,” all the more compelling coming from Noble, who suffers from glaucoma and has been legally blind since birth; the cleverly written “Do You Dare?” a wake-up call to those who watch life pass by from the safety of their couch; and the optimistic duet with Licht, “The Human Race,” with its we-are-the-world feel. But the album’s best is the stunning closer, the beautifully written and delicately rendered “Impossibly Beautiful.” Bree Noble has recently become a member of the distinguished Christian D.I.V.A.s, a group that provides a good fit for her level of talent and passion.
For more story-teller power-music, check out Mark Schultz' "Broken and Beautiful" or "LIfesong Live" from Casting Crowns.
Bree Noble
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