Parachute Band - Glorious

Sounds like … a somewhat diverse blend of programmed pop/R&B worship that resembles Anointed, Avalon, and Hillsong Australia.

At a glance … Parachute Band's eclectic musical palette and vocal skills are a little overshadowed by the conventional writing and simplistic worship rhetoric.

Parachute Band comes to us from New Zealand, where they started in 1996 as the house worship band for the annual Parachute Festival held every January. Not that "parachute" holds any significance ("it's just a nice sounding word"), the band became committed to introducing new worship songs to the church—first in New Zealand, and then around the world. They've since released five albums that have sold more than 200,000 total copies (low by industry standards, but fair for a worship artist), and scored a radio hit with "All the Earth."

I'm not sure I've seen a group so reluctant to identify its members and roles. Like their previous five releases, Glorious shows its three core vocalists (Wayne Huirua, Chris de Jong, and Libby Huirua) in various photos without really identifying them in the booklet. You'll find their names credited as songwriters for some tracks and for the vocal arrangements; Wayne also plays guitar and Chris keyboards. Most of the sound involved programmed pop arrangements, though they are joined by drummer Geoff Mason and touring bassist Adrian Le Pou. And while the band members do write some of their own songs, they rely just as much on the music of other worship writers from New Zealand and around the world.

While the production values for Parachute Band have been lacking on previous releases, they've improved with every album. As usual, this worship team has never confined themselves to a single style, and that's part of their appeal. Glorious begins with the joyously rowdy R&B funk of "So Sing," the album's most energetic track, which sounds a bit like George Clinton fronting En Vogue in a call-to-worship praise song. It's followed by the enjoyable programmed pop/rock of "Almighty," which is almost as strong as their popular rock anthem "Reason" was a few years ago: "Baring all, I stand here before you/All my hurts exposed/In the depths of my despair, I cry out to you/Make me whole." From there, the Parachute Band runs the gamut of soulful R&B ("All That I Need," featuring Israel Houghton), soaring euro-pop balladry ("High Above"), and blues-gospel ("Glorify Your Name"). "King of Love" even features a beautiful pipe organ—a real one, not a synth—in combination with the pop worship sound....

Continue Reading at this Christian Music Review