If you're looking for worship music from the heart with a tasty side of funk, you're going to want to check out "Enter In," from Kris Huston and her tight, tight band.
Kris Huston is a woman who has found her way into the secret place with her God, and she sends back to us these eleven tracks of “Enter In,” inviting us to partake of the rich fare she has found so satisfying. These self-penned songs are passionately written and enthusiastically executed with one of the tightest little bands on the indie worship scene today. Her vocals on opener “Rain Down Your Mercies” tip you to what lies in store on “Enter In”: rich and raw, and oh! that funk guitar! Huston has it in her to go feral, and her earthy tones lift this material up from your standard church fare into a solidly enjoyable groove.
Standouts include the nicely-arranged title track, edgy with exuberance and upbeat harmonica work, not to mention the great vocal interplay between Huston and Kip Fox. The quiet keyboard-driven ballad “In Me” highlights Huston’s rich tones, and the lovely and inviting “Revive Us Again” drips with passion, building to a moving crescendo of worship. Huston knows the path to the Throne room well, and throughout “Enter In” it is clear that this is her mission of prominence: to take us to the sweet place so familiar to her. In short, she is a worshipper.
Her band has just as much to do with the album’s effectiveness. The free-flowing funk of “Everything to Me” cannot fail to get you up out of your chair, and the whole team shines on the upbeat “Trust.” The pennywhistle, the congas, and the third grade class of St. Paul’s Lutheran School give this track a wonderful island feel.
The album closes gloriously with the intimate ballad, “Refuge in You,” simply Huston and a grand piano. The effect is powerful and moving, a wonderful way to tie up this exciting new project. Kris is on a mission to change the way we think of worship, and with “Enter In,” she is well on her way.
For more great worship, consider “Now is the Time: Live From Willow Creek” from worship pioneers, Delirious?, or Jaime Jamgochian’s “Reason to Live.”
