An album of the caliber of Steven Curtis Chapman’s Declaration worms its way deeper into an appreciative listener’s soul with every new pass-through. Its appeal is multi-layered. Each new encounter with this kind of music reveals a new facet, a previously unheard sound, the pleasure of an allusive turn of phrase that had gone undetected.
Chapman winks and nods a fair bit in this CD, a hobby that doesn’t distract him from exploring life-and-death themes via some very fine music. The album’s opening track–the jaunty, witty, `Live Out Loud’ starts the winking in earnest, but you get the idea he’s just getting down to business and having a bit of meaningful fun while he arranges his desk. (more…)
Canter Bridge 