Dara MacLean - You Got My Attention - Christian / Gospel - CD

Musical depth and Christian joy have rarely come together as compellingly as they do in the music of Dara MacLean. Hers is a joyful mix of pop idioms and eternal truths, danceable beats and the good news. "I love making music you can move and groove to," she says, "but at the same time, as a Christian artist, we have a responsibility to speak the truth in love." A singer of incredible grace, power and control, as well as a gifted songwriter, Dara has put together, with the help of Dove Award-winning producer Ian Eskelin, a debut CD that is as fresh and vibrant as any in recent years. The project combines the soul and urban pop influences that infuse her musical approach with soaring vocals in service to intelligently uplifting lyrics. "Suitcases," her debut single, is driven by a hip-hop beat and a vocal approach alternately intimate and soaring. It's an offer of true release from "your burdens, heavy like gravity." "I want to paint a picture of God's complete restorative love and how through Christ, we have an opportunity to live free," she says. "This song does just that." Influenced by contemporaries like Adele, Lauryn Hill, Natasha Bedingfield, Ray Lamontagne and Marc Broussard, she has also incorporated the Motown funk and soul she came to love growing up. The combination makes for a sound that is pure celebration. It captures as few artists ever have, the joy and exuberance of being swept up in God's love. It is an approach she comes by honestly. "I grew up singing, dancing and acting, and it's been in the church world,'" she says. "Music has always equaled ministry to me. Ministering to the broken, unloved and discouraged and ultimately showing people God's better way is what's in my heart. It's how I'm wired." TRACKLISTING: 1. Suitcases 2. You Got My Attention 3. Unreachable 4. What Love Looks Like 5. Free 6. Yours Forever 7. Nothin' You Won't Do 8. The One 9. Had to Be You 10. So Good to Me 11. Gratitude 12. Home.

Christian singer/songwriter Dara Maclean cites The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as a major influence, which, on her debut album, You Got My Attention, turns out to translate as blue-eyed soul singing, for the most part. Songs like "Suitcases" and "Gratitude" show a little bit of Hill's hip-hop sound, but Maclean more often suggests a fellow Dallas, Texas, resident, Norah Jones, and British neo-soul star Amy Winehouse. The arrangements range from the Motown sound of the title song to acoustic ballads like "Had to Be You," supporting Maclean's supple, expressive voice. As a Christian artist, she belongs to that CCM school that tends to de-emphasize religious specifics. "God," "Jesus," and "Father" do turn up here and there, especially later on the disc, but Maclean prefers euphemistic words like "mercy," "grace," and, especially, "love," as, for instance, in "Unreachable," when she is singing to another person who, she believes, is in fact reachable by faith. More often, she is expressing her own devotion, but in a vocabulary that easily could make the casual listener suppose she was pledging romantic love to an especially worthy boyfriend. ("I'm yours forever, my love," she sings in "Yours Forever.") Complicating this somewhat is the inclusion of "Had to Be You," which really does seem to be about a secular relationship, one sanctioned by heaven, since Maclean continues to sing lyrics more or less similar to those in the religious songs. In any case, her singing is effective and her sentiments doubtless sincere. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

Performer	Dara MacLean
Music genre	Christian / Gospel
Media format	CD
Original release date	2022
Number of tracks	12
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Track listing	Suitcases, You Got My Attention, Unreachable, What Love Looks Like, Free, Yours Forever, Nothin' You Won't Do, The One, Had to Be You, So Good to Me, Gratitude, Home
Record label	Word
Songwriter	Dara Maclean
Music producer	Ian Eskelin
Track name	Suitcases
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N