Album: Tell Me What You Know
Artist: Sara Groves
Label: INO Records
Sounds like: Brooke Fraser, Missy Higgins

Like Jars of Clay or Amy Grant in the past, Sara Groves is now a major player. As such, it’s reasonable that themes of staying the course abound here. Finishing well is always a challenge in the Christian life, and for this mother of three it’s all about keeping faith, hope and love in the relentlessness of life. Like Amy, Jars and onetime producer Charlie Peacock, Groves favours contemplation over simplistic praise, and the music, as usual, keeps in touch with its American pastoral roots. Veteran producer Brown Bannister, responsible for much of Amy Grant’s classic work, adds bluesy guitar and trainwhistle slide guitar to the usual piano, while “In the girl there’s a room” has a funkier feel, with rapid-fire vocals (like “When it was over”), borrowing from hip-hop. We’ve heard these melodies before, so it’s fair to say Groves is coasting—but at a high altitude.

Nicks rating: 4/5