Give Me Faith – Jesse Morgan ft. Israel Houghton (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Jesse Morgan is nothing if not versatile. With his previous single, Here We Stand, the drive behind his expansive and soulful voice comes from a more rock environment with guitars providing chiming motifs or explosive energy. Give Me Faith, however, has a more R&B feel to it, a pop sense and a soul heart. The former is also more of a shout it from the rooftops anthem whereas this time around the song feels more like a one on one conversation, an intimate confessional, a personal message but with universal resonance.

As always harmony is high on the list of boxes to be ticked, close multiple harmonies hang on his every world building in passion and power as the song heads towards it’s crescendo; pianos build, strings sweep forward and the song becomes as vocally intricate as it does musically hypnotic.

Jesse Morgan is the epitome of the modern gospel singer, obviously the message is the driving point, the whole reason he is performing but the skill is also to move with the times. Here, he wonderfully acknowledges the musical traditions of his chosen genre but the fact that he is so able to weave them through contemporary pop, soul and dance vibes keeps them musically relevant as well as lyrically poignant. Never has a message been so wonderfully wrapped.

Available on iTunes: http://bit.ly/GiveMeFaithiTunes