Kari Jobe ‘The Blessing’

Kari Jobe
The Blessing
(Sparrow)

If you’ve ever attended a Kari Jobe concert, you already know how some of the best moments are oftentimes the more spontaneous ones. These are instances where Jobe appears to be truly enraptured in the experience and expressing her deep love for God. However, what many times works so well in a church or concert hall setting, doesn’t always translate as successfully into an audio recording. Such is the case too many times, unfortunately, with Jobe’s new release The Blessing, much of which was recorded live.

With more than two hours of music contained within, many of these new tracks clock in at between seven and nine minutes long, with a few extending all the way into double digits. One titled “Favorite Place,” for instance, features Jobe verbally improvising her joy at being in God’s presence. Although Jobe is undeniably sincere during this song, it’s probably not a track one might return to multiple times. In contrast, the finger-snapped rhythm and pop music instrumentation utilized in opener “Heaven Invade” has all auditory earmarks of a hit single. And hit songs, after all, mainly become successful because they make us want to hear them repeatedly.

With that said, though, the album’s title song is extremely good for a few noteworthy reasons. First, its words are taken right from Numbers in the Bible. It’s straight scripture. Secondly, it also includes Jobe’s husband, Cody Carnes, singing along with her. Although it is also lengthy, at over eight minutes long, it has enough musical and lyrical structure to warrant such an extended length. Ah, if only Kari Jobe had made this track the template for the rest of her album.

—Dan MacIntosh

Stream: