Album Review :
Nine O Five - Live at C4: May This Be...

Artist: Nine O Five

Album: Live at C4: May This Be…

Label: None (released independently)

Release Date: January 18, 2011

Reviewer: Eric Pettersson

Tracklisting

1. You’re Alive
2. Sing, Sing, Sing
3. You Are Holy (May This Be)
4. Second Chance
5. Love Covered All
6. Where the Love Lasts Forever

Canadian worship band Nine O Five have been garnering some attention lately due to an unplanned recording of “With Everything,” played live with Aaron Gillespie of The Almost/ Underoath fame. Aaron went up north to play worship with Nine O Five one evening, and this song just so happened to be recorded as a spur of the moment thing. The artists liked it enough that it went online for free download. Now, a few months later, Nine O Five is releasing another live recording, this time without help from Gillespie. The six songs are from a worship event at their church, Carruthers Creek Community Church (C4).

As I’ve said in other reviews recently, worship music can be tough, because music made for the purpose of congregational singing is understandably going to be simple, so anyone can pick it up and sing along right away. Listening to the guitars weaving in and out of the songs, it is clear Nine O Five are trying to avoid the musical pitfalls that also make such music boring to listen to. Their style is a fairly common brand of modern worship, similar to Chris Tomlin and the like, perhaps with a slightly more alternative bent. Based on this live EP, it seems like a powerful worship experience occurred for many people who were there that night. If you are someone who can easily worship to recorded music, the latest from Nine O Five is worth a shot. If you are not, then you are better off letting this release pass you by, just as you let the latest from Charlie Hall or David Crowder Band go on unnoticed. In other words, the music does not stand out as music, but most of you would enjoy these songs if your churches incorporated them into a worship service.

Overall: Like most alternative/modern worship artists these days, Nine O Five are trying to push the genre forward with quality musicianship and meaningful praise of God. And yet, the limits of the genre are still so narrow that even those pushing it forward lack what it takes to engage an audience of those who simply want to listen to music. But considering that their purpose is worship of our Creator and not entertainment, these songs will be useful and meaningful for those who are able to worship in this way.