Lindsay McCaul “One More Step” Album Review

Prime Cuts:  One More Step, With the Broken Hearted, More Certain Than Stars

Sufferings have a way of making or breaking us.  With God's grace, Lindsay McCaul has chosen the former.   McCaul didn't come to the platform of Contemporary Christian Music with a silver spoon in her mouth.  Rather, as a fighter who had just triumphed over her bout with bulimia and anorexia, she has also survived through the grueling ordeals of watching her dad and her pastor losing their battles with cancer. Now she lives to sing about this grace that had sustained her on this new record "One More Step."  In fact, the titular of her songs (such as "With the Broken Hearted," "Love Won't Give Up," & "Mess Like Me") are telling facsimile of her testimony.  Thus, listening to "One More Step" is like hearing a God-transforming narrative that moves from despair to hope; from pain to joy and from lifelessness to eternal life.  Each song creeps into the different crevices of this transformative journey identifying with us in our pain at times.  And yet at other times nudging us to move closer to God in faith and love.

"One More Step" follows on the heels of 2012's "If It Leads Me Back," which includes fan favorites such as "Say My Name," "Where Do You Go" and "Come Rest."  This new record finds McCaul working with producers Brent Milligan (Steven Curtis Chapman, David Crowder Band) and Jeff Pardo (Matthew West, Jonny Diaz), who also lent his award-winning song writing skills to the record.  The set opens with the sunny pop sounds of "Empty Handed."  Though there is nothing much to shout about in terms of its melody and its predictable pimped out for radio production, the song still sizzles with Godly expectations as it beckons us to come to God with empty hands. Despite its title, "A Little" is a heavily indebted to the slick sounds of Francesca Battistelli and Christy Nockels.  Much better is the acoustic guitar-driven "Jesus Is" which is largely redeemed by piling up lots of snazzy and tantalizing hooks.   

In the light of McCaul's own journey, with lots of big piano riffs the "More Certain than the Stars" is faith affirming. Digging deeper into the issue of God's grace a little farther is the ukulele-adorned "Mess Like Me."  God's gracious acceptance of us despite the tousled chaos of our own failings has never been more eloquently construed. Traversing on similar lyrical ground but set in a gorgeous balladry underpinning is McCaul's lovely duet with Brandon Heath "With the Broken Hearted."    

The song that has accentuated the most response is the title cut "One More Step." You may want to have a box of Kleenex nearby as McCaul sings this about the life and death of her war veteran father, Ret. Col. Larry Walter Pritchett, who passed away two years ago.  Chronicling their treasured moments together from her childhood to her wedding day to the day she bade farewell to her dad, this is tear inducing stuff.  Most heart rendering is the last verse:  "It's one more step/Blink your eyes/You'll be home on the other side/Running down the golden streets/You'll hear a million angels sing/So one more kiss on earth is all that's left/Before the breath of heaven fills your chest/And you finally see His face and find your rest/One more step/One more step." After a song like that, you can't help but be lost in the beauty of a father's love.

 

 

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