Review - Hear Us Out III 疑聚
As the contemporary praise music genre has been one of the fastest growing genres in the Western music industry, Asia’s has grown in all directions. A significant reason are the varied cultures and states of the church in these countries. Personally, it’s refreshing to hear various styles of Chinese praise that reflect the reverence and worthiness of our Creator. But one album recently has caught my eye in its refreshing approach.
Hear Us Out III is an album recorded and produced in both Singpore and Malaysia by a company called Soulworksmusic. This being their 3rd offering in the Hear Us Out series of songs, this album contains ten written by different song writers. Styles range from R&B to some hard rock, of which I dig. Lyrically very diverse, but even more outstanding is is the quality of production for a contemporary Chinese praise album. The songs are all very melodic, and some quite catchy and you won’t be able to get them out of your head. The producers did an excellent job of chosing appropriate songs and integrating them into a cohesive album.
Some highlights from the album:
他听到 - solid lyrics, with an arrangment with an edge
有你与我同行 -I love the groove with this song. 吴慧慧 does a great job of singing on this song, a sometimes whispy feel combined with a certainty of truth. The words “所以我要开口赞美“ really hit home with the well-chosen chord changes, not to mention some very creative effects processing.
一无挂虑 - I can imagine this song being played in a very big stadium, with big guitars, and with a strong orchestra. And the guitar solo is pretty decent, playing and recording-wise, so you can’t complain (I won’t even begin my rant here about how poorly electric guitars are usually played in Chinese CDs). 
Yes I Do - great beat, in an R&B style, with a nice arrangement
To be honest, in a musical sense, I don’t have a song on this album that I don’t like. I’ve heard quite a handful of different Chinese praise albums of which usually ranged from “Um…This recording doesn’t do it justice, guess you had to be there” to “My stereo system doesn’t do it justice. Gotta find a hi-fi system.” This album successfully falls towards the latter.
It seems much of this production for this album revolves around a drum machine and probably a tool like Reason to produce most of the loops and effects. There’s nothing wrong with that but I’d be more than happy to hear a couple of tracks with a live drummer, bassist as well in the future. In any case, this is one album that’s been consistently playing on my iPod for the last 2 months. I mention contemporary Chinese praise albums because this is one area that is, mark my words, needs to seeing continuing creativity. It’s got to or it’s going to fall into the same trappings that North American worship had gone through in the past (but finally catching up), a follower rather than a leader in musical arts and production.
Rating: 4/5 - I’m going to give this one a 4 because of how it stands out at this time compared to other contemporary Chinese praise offerings at this time. Definitely one to get if you like this genre!
If you have other contemporary Chinese praise albums that you would recommend, leave a comment!
hey ivan, thanks for the rec! i think the genre has a long way to go, too (sometimes i think it’s still stuck back in the equivalent of the early 90’s for the western scene), so it’s always great to hear of people who are pushing the envelope.