MercyMe: Self-Discovery

MercyMe’s road to self-discovery is unlike any other bands. But “Coming Up to Breathe” may have kicked the door in.

As mentioned earlier in this blog, their explosive first success, ("I Can Only Imagine" from "Almost There"), opened the long-barred mainstream doors to Christian bands. The same crusade continues, as evidenced in last week's New York Times piece on Christian music meeting mainstream. The Times was not kind to "Coming Up to Breathe," but other reviews have been extremely positive. After listening to several tracks this morning, I found Bart Millard's vocals to be stunning as always and rocker "You're to Blame" left me rejoicing. Seems to me, in fact, that the band may now have finally found the groove that fits them best, for they sound very comfortable in their skin, musically speaking. These more stylized songs have the ring of truth to them, and I look forward to hearing the whole project. Stay tuned for more.