‘Need You Now’ is the first release from Plumb in over 5 years. It was originally supposed to be released in September 2012 with the title of ‘Faster than a Bullet’, but was pushed back by her record company to a 2013 release. The title of the album was changed to honor the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims, which was a good move since ‘Need You Now’ fits better with the overall feel of the record.

The CD starts off with Invisible, an upbeat song that sounds like a classic Plumb track. I cannot see you / But I can feel you / I just wanna be with you / I’ve nowhere else to go are the words of someone that is at a crossroads in their life. At some point in all of our lives we will find ourselves lost with nowhere to go and at that point we have to put our faith in something. Sometimes that is a higher power, sometimes it’s a person and sometimes it’s just a basic belief that things will get better. Songs like this are there to let the listener know they are not alone in these struggles. Drifting, which features Jars of Clay singer Dan Haseltine, is a song about being there for someone when they are in need. It is a reminder to us all that When you lose the will to live / You will see the sun.

In Beautiful she (Tiffany Arbuckle Lee is the musician who goes by the moniker/artist name Plumb) sings about all the faults she sees in herself and how just hearing her husband tell her that she is beautiful makes everything seem better. One Drop continues that sentiment as she sings I need you / And you need me / Left alone / We will never be / Who we could be.

Plumb’s One Drop

I Want You Here is a very personal song about turning to God when obstacles get in your way. In this case her struggles are panic attacks, which is also the subject of Need You Now (How Many Times). Heartbreak is the topic of Say Your Name, a haunting rock ballad that features a string section that would have felt at home on radio stations in the late 80’s.

Why me / Why am I not welcome in your company  / Why do you treat me like an enemy / If you believe the way you say you do / Then why am I unlovable to you she sings, calling out supposed Christians with Unlovable, a song suggesting that we should love everyone despite their differences. It is refreshing to hear a Christian artist speak out against discrimination.

Switching gears from loving others to loving your spouse is Chocolate and Ice Cream, a fun little song where she sings about all of the differences between her and her husband and how those differences make her feel complete. I Don’t Deserve You is about loving someone so much that you can’t believe they are with you.

Making mistakes is common in relationships, which is the subject of Cage. Even when you love someone there are days when you aren’t at your best. One of those days must have prompted At Arm’s Length in which she sings If we don’t get our way right now / We act like children.

‘Need You Now’ is that rare record offering both thought provoking lyrics and a singer with an amazing vocal range. Even though it is marketed as a Christian album it never gets too preachy like others in that genre. Instead of singing worship songs, Plumb crafts beautiful tracks based on life experiences which makes her music palatable to fans of all types of music. This is easily one of the best records released in 2013 due to the songwriting alone.

Plumb, a successful artist across multiple genres — everything from major Hollywood soundtracks to alternative rock to EDM to chart-topping CCM hits — released Need You Now: Deluxe Edition Tuesday, September 16.

While listening to Need You Now: Deluxe Edition — especially the new material — it put something in my heart that I haven’t been able to shake: when we’re willing to tell the story of our brokenness, it gives God a chance to redeem those things by encouraging others.

Many people call it a testimony, but when you’re willing to tell your story — and not just the happy shiny parts — it feels as if you’re cracking yourself open like a shattered jar and letting it all pour out. Once you do that, like the woman who broke the alabaster jar to pour its contents out on Jesus, you can’t really control the volume that comes out. That can be unnerving. “There it all is. Pouring everywhere. The jar is emptied to the last drop.”

But when we open up about our brokenness and take that scary step of telling our stories, God redeems those things by turning them into life-preservers for others.

And that’s why I treasure Need You Now and the new colors in the Deluxe Edition, especially the new song “Fall Back In,” which drew tears as I listened; my “music reviewer” hat fell off for a moment, and it took awhile to find it on the floor and put it back on. The song is a powerful, heart-wrenching but beautifully hopeful song.

Plumb, in this album and in her new book Need You Now: A Story of Hope, cracks open the jar and opens up about the some intense, vulnerable things. She especially focuses on dark valleys that couples experience in marriage and relationships, but because it’s fused with that life-giving redemptive power of Christ, all of it adds up to the light of Heaven. She provides hopeful proof from her own experience that Christ can restore what has been lost.

In other words, God can take even the darkness in our lives and turn it into light that others can see by.

As far as the musical content, the Deluxe Edition — thanks to the new tracks — has its own voice, its own character that definitely makes it worth having. It was thoughtfully done. There are plenty of new colors to hear and, I’d venture to say, the new stuff is Plumb at her very best.

“Starting Over” dives fearlessly into the EDM world, for example. EDM — which covers everything from Skrillex to Swedish House Mafia to Daft Punk — essentially conquered the secular music industry several years ago and hasn’t slowed down. In recent years I’ve come to dislike Contemporary Christian Music’s clumsy Coke commercial attempts at EDM, but Plumb — thank God — is a huge exception, which is certainly why she’s garnered attention from fans across the board, both secular and Christian. I like her take on EDM as much as, say, Ellie Goulding’s Halcyon. Her voice — her particular timbre and vocal range — feels at home in a synth-sonic, pulsating EDM environment. It’s beautiful and exhilarating, which is always the premise and goal of vocal-based EDM songs.

“Faithful” creates a contemplative, stirring pop-synth experience with great melodic writing throughout. “Lord I’m Ready Now” has that classic Plumb anthem feel — her trademark expression of what I might call a triumphant yearning that has made so many of her songs soar over the years.

The “worship version” of “Need You Now (How Many Times)” caught me off guard. It adds a bridge that strips off the confined radio single protocol and pulls you neck-deep into something like a psalm of David — the ones where David is crying out to God with the rawest cries. That added bridge, to me, represents the heart of the song, and it’s what the album is all about: an unafraid baring of brokenness and crying out to God that gives hope and inspires the listener to “cast all your cares at His feet.”

Great new songs. Incredibly edifying. Deluxe Edition is worth the time and money.

2013 is the year of the EP. The extended play. The 5-6 songs released as a collection before the full-length album. Or maybe just the 5-6 songs without the album. Regardless of how you define ‘EP’, 2013 is the year of them, with many artists releasing the shortened version of albums, from City Harbor, The Sonflowerz, Amanda Noelle, Finding Favour and Vertical Church, to Gabi DiPace, Ryan Stevenson, Unspoken, Jason Gray and Everyday Sunday (and do nine track albums by both Luke Hellebronth and Marthe De La Torre count as EP’s or albums?). Enter in folk/acoustic/worship artist Ellie Holcomb, wife of singer/songwriter Drew Holcomb and daughter of producer Brown Bannister, the latest artist to give us an EP, in the form of With You Now. A great collection of songs to listen to and have if you’re a fan of folk/acoustic and praise artists like Audrey Assad or Andrew Peterson; this indie artist has given myself at least a welcomed surprise in these 6 songs. Primarily giving us the musical backdrop of the acoustic guitar; Ellie’s heartfelt and poignant song writing, to the point where she is also placed and elevated to be within the category of great songwriters (inclusive of Jason Gray, Andrew Peterson, Nichole Nordeman and Bebo Norman), is a great asset for the EP. Initially hearing about the artist for the first time via a kickstarter video link, my respect for Ellie and her music as continued to grow through the listening of this 2013 EP, propelling these songs to be my second favourite EP of the year so far. With her first full-length studio album As Sure as the Sun to be released on February 18^th 2014, Ellie’s heart for giving us songs and moments of vulnerability is enough to warrant at least a listen from anyone who loves acoustic reflective music, or even anyone who wants some acoustic, new, invigorating melodies, and something different and original compared to the airplay of Christian radio pop/rock.

‘With You Now’ is the first song from the album, and standing at a length of 3 minutes 19 seconds, is one of my favourite songs on the album. Speaking from the point of view of God (or maybe a good friend), Ellie declares out the words ‘…when you are silent, I will speak for you, you cannot feel, I will feel for you now…and when your heart is full of this trouble, and when the night whispers your fears out loud, I’ll be with you now…’, reminding us that just like in the song, the Lord God, as well as our closest family and friends, are certain to be with us throughout every trial and tribulation, achievement and success. A comforting song that accentuates the power in Ellie’s vocals, ‘With You Now’ is one to ponder with as we see if we truly believe God is with us, and whether when faced with the situation, will we be with others the way that God is with us (as in, will we be able to recite these lyrics and mean them as we tell these truths to a friend in need?)? Confronting and hopefully compelling and encouraging, ‘With You Now’ segues into ‘Place My Hope’, the longest song on the album and one that encourages us again to lean on the Lord in any circumstance. Reminding me vocally of Centricity Music artist Lanae Hale (not really sure if she’s still doing music), Ellie invites us to lift our ‘…eyes from this fragile life, for You will rescue me, You are my Prince of Peace and I’ll lift up my soul to You who makes things whole…in You I place my hope…’, a heartfelt prayer that’s certain to impact us whenever we hear the melody during our moments of reflection and quiet time. With light acoustic guitars, electric guitar strums and a powerful vocal, ‘Place My Hope’ comes with a realisation of who we can place our trust in, and continues to assert Ellie as one of the most underrated acoustic/worship artists throughout the last few years.

Ellie continues to bring to the fore the theme of God comforting us with His love in ‘Can’t Outrun Your Love’, a 2 minute scripture-in-song like melody that reminds us that ‘…even when the darkness covers me, I settle on the far side of the sea, no matter what I do, I can’t outrun Your love…’; while ‘He Will Give Me The Weary Strength’ is a poignant invitation to all to rest in the love of God, reassuring listeners that when we are in His presence, He will give the weary strength, and the broken hope. With light acoustic strums and layered vocals, Ellie delivers an ethereal voice to present to us an eerily enjoyable reflective song that’s certain to be on anyone’s iTunes playlist if you are in a reflective mood. ‘May The Words’, presenting to us a similar themed song compared to Tim Hughes’s ‘May The Words of My Mouth’; is an emotional melody full of hope, heart and comfort as she gives us conviction and strength to make sure that every word and deed that comes from us is pleasing to the Lord. Ending the album with ‘We Shall Always Be with the Lord’; Ellie leaves her best reflective song to last as she brings together the acoustics and relay the theme of Christians being with the Lord when the time comes for us to travel to our permanent home in heaven. Written and delivered with emotion and enthusiasm, this is a great song for comfort as we rest and be in communion with the Lord, understanding that ‘…we shall always be with the Lord…so comfort one another with these words…’