Friday, July 7, 2006

CD Review: Dylan Sneed’s What I Thought

By Sandra Li

If you’re just starting your contemporary Christian music collection, or are a veteran in this field, What I Thought by Dylan Sneed would be a good album to add to your collection. Dylan Sneed is a Christian-influenced singer / songwriter who has performed since he was seventeen, and has experimented with musical genres such as pop, rock, country, and folk. This newest CD was recorded live at Dunn Bros. Coffee in Addison, Texas in 2005. The resulting album features soft acoustics. Through some of his own original lyrics, he makes a number of references to biblical themes. Song number two, “What I Thought”, describes how he grew up taught to be a Christian; however, he slowly learns about the true nature of his God as he matures in his faith. In the third song, “Humble Me”, he sings about being lowly and ridding all of his pride to be more like Jesus Christ. As the last song in this album, he sings an amazing vow to “follow Jesus anywhere–through the water, through the fire.”

The song “Always Gonna Be” wasn’t a bad one to launch as the first song on the album; although, it’s a bit deceptive. First impressions make the album appear overall upbeat. However, the sounds are consistently mellow with only a small touch of synthetic pop. Most of his songs run at a relaxing, easygoing pace. The opening song on the album contains one of the few instances where the percussion comes into play, while he opens the rest of the show with himself as the guitar soloist. Don’t be surprised that the music isn’t as rosy and poised as other mainstream artists heard on Contemporary Christian music radio like Toby Mac or DC Talk, but he definitely targets listeners who can be lifted and inspired.

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