Life Light Up

Anyone familiar with Christy Nockels' years as part of Watermark knows her as a singer capable of great spiritual resonance. While Life Light Up is outwardly (and upwardly) directed, there’s enough of her own personality present to make it stand out from now-familiar worship music conventions. Nockels can deliver big praise numbers with the best of them, as evidenced by “No Not One” and “Song of the Beautiful.” Her rendition of the hymn “A Mighty Fortress” reframes its timeless grandeur in modern terms. What’s special about this album, though, are the moments where Nockels blurs the distinctions between the communal and the intimate. Her renditions of the enraptured “Choose” and the elegant, Enya-like “By Our Love” have the impact of personal testimony. Nockels’ version of Brooke Fraser’s “Hosanna” is an especially compelling call to a rising generation of believers. By pushing against Christian music boundaries, Nockels honors both her faith and her art on Life Light Up.