Stop & Listen (Bonus Tracks)

Bethany Dillon’s music remains sweetly melodic, with an added maturity coloring her recent writing. Stop & Listen finds Dillon looking closely at her relationship with God and drawing universal lessons from her experiences. As with her previous releases, the music here favors pastel sonic colors and gently pulsing rhythms, with “Reach Out” adding a mildly bluesy strain to the general folk-pop ambiance of the tracks. Dillon’s songs balance effusive expressions of gratitude (“I Am Yours,” “Everyone to Know”) with admissions of her own spiritual shortcomings (“So Close,” “Deliver Me”). “Say Your Name” and “The Way I Come to You” deal with her recent marriage in the light of Scripture, while the title number seeks the divine amidst the hassles of everyday life. Dillon’s homespun vocals manage to combine a rapturous sense of joy with a hint of ache, underscored by her feathery upper range. Stop & Listen is an appealing release by a still-searching, still-unfolding talent.