Jessa Anderson lives in Nashville, TN with her husband
Jordan and their two kids Lorelei and Jagger.
Jessa loves coffee and watching Gilmore Girls and hates olives. Her website says: “As for music, and why it
matters, I view it as a thread that runs far and wide, bringing people to God
and to one another. I have a hard time
labeling music in and of itself as ‘Christian’, but I am proud to be a
Christ-follower making music encompassing both the human and the holy”. WHOLE (2014, Crash Records) is her third full
length album.
A pleasant pop/dance number called ‘Idols’ opens the
album. It finds Jessa conversing openly
with her Creator: “And as it turns out, this fickle heart in my chest/Sometimes
it beats for everything but what is best/And when I turn down the voice I hear
in my head/I give You room to speak and offer life instead/So take all of these
idols, all of these idols and lay them to rest/So take all of these idols, all
of my idols”. ‘Stay’ opens with lyrics
that many a married couple will be able to relate to: “Another yelling match
here in the living room/A personal attack is thrown from me to you/And then you
give it back/And slam the door and drive away/And all you’re thinking is ‘Don’t
know how much more I can take’/Cause when we started out, wide-eyed and
unafraid/Thought we would never doubt the promises we made/But disillusioned
now ‘cause nothing seems to be the same/And we are wondering just how much more
that we can take”.
‘Giving Your Heart Away’ is a pretty ballad that again deals
with male-female relationship issues: “Her hands would shake when she said
goodbye/She never meant to hurt a heart that was so kind/Searching for words to
apologize/With her mistakes burning bright in his eyes/Unwelcome tears that
he’d try to fight spilling out/Slowly running him dry.../Said it was love, but
I didn’t believe him/Feel like I’m locked inside without a key, and/If I could
only collect all the pieces/That I have given up/Maybe it’d be enough”. ‘Everything’ is an Adult Contemporary song
that features beautiful, poetic words: “This is love, not that I could love but
that I’m loved by One/Who loves at any cost, even to death/You’ve gone and
stand victorious/And when I think about all You’ve done/Jesus I am overcome/You
know it hits me like a tidal wave/And I buckle down beneath the weight of/All
You are, no less than Everything/I am helpless but to speak Your name/The
sweetest sound I’ll ever make/With all my heart/I’m giving everything”.
‘Can’t Be Saved’ sounds a pessimistic note: “It’s lonely on
the sea but every once in a while comes someone/Who tries and tries to put the
anchor down/But soon they will find that every time there’s a reason I’m still
drifting/And I’ll be right here until I drown.../They say if you look close
enough at the bottom/You might see just a little piece of what you thought was
love”. ‘Caught me by Surprise’ is a
gentle, happy song: “Well I don’t know how we got together but I’m glad we
did/You said hello and before I could stop it I was falling in/One look in your
eyes, I was mesmerized right there and then/And suddenly realized just how much
I’d been missing/Little did I know that I was only seeing black and
white/Living shades of gray/Still I thought that I was doing fine/But now the
colors seem so bright/You caught me by surprise”.
‘Never the Same’ would fit nicely on daytime Christian
radio. This song makes it clear that
Jessa wants to share her faith and the hope she’s found with others: “I want to
make You known with every breath in my lungs/Until there’s nothing more, until
the work is done.../Now all I want to do is tell everybody how/Your love has
overcome the deepest of my needs and I/Could never quite express the way that
You’ve changed me now/But I will do my best/Yes, I will do my best”. ‘Breakdown’ warns us that fighting in
relationships can be like being on a battlefield: “When every line is crossed
and every word is spoken/When every drop of blood has been spilled out and
every hope is gone/With every weapon drawn and every wound inflicted/When you
are the only one left standing/Can you really say you’ve won?.../So every
bullet fired and every forced explosion, yeah, yeah/Is taking from everyone in
it’s path not just the target chosen”.
‘Story of Grace’ is a well-crafted song that places total
confidence in God: “Yet I know You hear even what I can’t say/Though my mouth
is silent my heart cries for strength/So let the words come one by one/Goodness
and healing from my tongue/That I’d find Your glory even in my pain/Let my life
tell the story of grace”. The title
track, ‘Whole’, is up last. It reflects
on what Christ accomplished at Calvary: “If He really did come to right the
fall, pay once for all of us, take all the burden and the sin/If the curtain
was rent, the sky was black, and the spear went in to pour down the last of a
covenant/If death was beginning instead of end, then who I am now was
determined then.../And when He said ‘It is finished’/It was finished then/He
gave us what we don’t deserve and paved the way to righteousness”.
On the whole, pun intended, WHOLE has two strengths that
stand out to me. First off, the album
successfully deals both with horizontal relationships (human to human), and
vertical relationship (between us and God).
Secondly, Jessa has a voice that is very smooth, warm, and inviting to
listen to. The main downfall of the
album, in my opinion, is that there are so many slow, quiet songs that they
almost begin to sound alike. I hope on
her next album Jessa includes several peppier, upbeat songs musically. I’m rating WHOLE 83% and recommending it to
fans of Faith Grace, Taylor Swift, and Sarah McLachlan. For more info visit: www.jessaanderson.com.