Anthony Evans

Anthony Evans is a busy man. The son of prominent minister Dr. Tony Evans, Anthony has already recorded two studio projects—the first an exploration of his soulful roots, the second a more streamlined series of pop singles. With The Bridge, his third release, Evans hopes to marry the two musical ideas into one harmonious collection of both new and recycled material. He manages to succeed on that front, although this album is not without its weaknesses.

The biggest complaints I have with The Bridge have to do with the appearances of cover material, particularly “Blessed Be Your Name” and “How Great Is Our God” which have, in an incredibly brief span of time, been run into the ground by countless artists—both professional and amateur. For an artist releasing his third album, particularly one such as Evans who has an extraordinary feel for his genre, it seems a bit superfluous and runs the risk of pushing hardcore dissenters from the worship genre (such as, most recently, myself) away from his music instead of toward it.

Overall, dismissing it as “just another pop-praise release” would be a grave mistake. To do so would cause one to miss out on this talented gentleman’s “nice guy” persona and his producer’s obvious love of crisp production. Honestly, this is one of the best recorded albums I’ve heard this year: clear vocals, brisk percussion, sharp but never imposing strings, and a choir backup that manages to sound less like a nebulous mass and more like an army of worshipful voices. It’s all pitch-perfect. Perhaps now my distaste for worship conventions along the lines of the two above-mentioned tracks becomes clear: this is an above average production of below average art. At least as far as the cover compositions are concerned.

Evans has a penchant for rhythm and blues, old school style, with percussion that sets the mood and horns to serve as the melodic tonic to his own slippery-smooth voice. The word that comes to mind is “persuasive.” This is not only for fans of the soulful convention style approach; Anthony Evans takes the unsure listener by the hand and gives our ears something to hold on to, serving as a Gospel 101 of sorts. We’re never barraged with too many ideas at once, which makes the experience all the more comfortable. First percussion, then strings, then horns, then vocals—this formula serves as a soundtrack to Evans’ vision of both public and private worship experiences.

It’s not an entirely flawless approach; after all, any project that relays its genre’s conventions to potential newcomers tends to alienate listeners already “in the know,” those who are specifically hoping for a project that will take its artist’s talents and push them to new levels of either experimentation or of self-discovery. Regardless, the pros outweigh the cons with this album: a bridge of sound for the uninitiated to cross over in hopes of discovering tapestries of sound altogether unfamiliar to them.

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