Love Will Have the Final Word

Editors’ Notes More than just a collection of catchy, faith-based tunes, Jason Gray’s Love Will Have the Final Word is a song cycle of unusual honesty and spiritual perceptiveness. While the Minneapolis-rooted singer/songwriter has won praise for his sensitive lyrics and engaging melodies, he kicks things up another notch here. Avoiding feel-good clichés, Gray addresses the moments of weakness and sorrow that afflict everyone, believers included. The album opens on a buoyant note with “Laugh Out Loud,” a celebratory tune driven by handclaps and embellished with hammered dulcimer. “Love’s Not Done with You” and the title number continue in a hopeful vein, with widescreen arrangements that build to soaring choruses. What sets this album apart, though, are tracks like “Not Right Now” and “I Don’t Know How,” which address suffering with a frankness unusual in Christian pop/rock. Gray passes through the Valley of the Shadow to reach the Light with a joyful heart on “The Best Days of My Life” and “As I Am.”