By Alex Parrish

I’ll be honest, in the Christian market, I have a lot of trouble finding my particular taste in music. Being a fan of acoustic and Indie rock seldom leaves you finding any radio stations (outside the internet) that fill the bill, which means you seek out coffee shops, for the most part, to find new talent.

 

But of course, Christian music isn’t totally devoid of good Indie-sounding music completely. There are a few artists that really toss up some great quality stuff, both musically and artistically. Shawn McDonald, to my estimation, is a beacon among these folks.

 

His latest album, Ripen, is great fare for anyone who’s currently a fan of Jack Johnson or John Mayer. The sound ranges from the tender solitude of Shawn and his guitar on great cuts like, “I Wanna Be Ready,” to driving, almost stomping tunes like “The Rider on the White Horse.” And those are just the first two cuts.

 

Shawn’s heart is injected into every single track, leaving you with the sense that this guy painstakingly paints his own experience into the words. “Free” is a spirited anthem of liberty in Christ, kicking up some dust but stopping just short of being poppy. “Perfectly Done” is a conversational piece that leaves you thinking it was taken from someone Shawn knew closely, perhaps even agonized over the condition of. “Confess” and “Pour Out” are those kinds of songs that really leave you humming the bars, wishing you had a hammock to relax in. “My Salvation” is an invitational hymn if I ever heard one, a true song of dependence, almost of confession.

 

This isn’t Shawn McDonald’s first album. 2004’s Simply Nothing was a refreshing new breath of air on the Christian music scene, yet it seems he still hasn’t gotten the recognition that most artists his caliber usually get. Ripen is the next evolution for sure, and for folks that have been on this same quest I’ve been on for incredible new, acoustic music, the answer has come.