A Thin Silence

Jeff Johnson (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 2, 2006)
• Original Release Date: May 2, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ark Records, Inc./ArkMusic
• ASIN: B000F5ZHA8
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,153 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. A Thin Silence

2. Gethsemane

3. Overcoming Lies

4. Angel Of The Dawn

5. Beatitude

6. Bright Sadness

7. Failing Eyes

8. Heaven’s Door

9. Awakening

10. Toward Calvary

11. Circle Me

Editorial Reviews

Review

Each of these “musical prayers” leads the listener in a separate journey and into another depth of nearness to God. --Aimee Herd, The Well, April 15, 2006

Product Description

Inspired by the story of the Prophet Elijah hearing God’s voice in a thin silence (I Kings 19), here is music for stillness and quite contemplation. Selah worship leader, Jeff Johnson, performs ten piano based instrumental prayers and the chanted Celtic Lorica, "Circle Me."

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Sound of Silence, June 25, 2006

By 

Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Thin Silence (Audio CD)

Jeff Johnson's music has had a variety of inspirations: literary, fantasy, travelogs, Celtic and ancient monks. Nearly everything he does is off the beaten path and he follows his own Muse. The bits on Windham Hill samplers and NPR Echoes nearly always result in listeners calling up and wanting more, saying "Who is this Jeff Johnson and why haven't I heard of him?" Why indeed?

He has an uncanny sense of melody. When I play a new album it always seems I've heard it before. Then I forget where I heard it and search for the source, always finding it's Jeff Johnson. Having heard numerous of both his vocal and intrumental albums, however, I confess that this one still floored me. This is his most minimalist album. Some songs are a few piano notes with only the slightest whisp of instrumental support or the faintest vocal whisper, each note naked in silence.

Like Phillip Glass, Johnson repeats simple themes so that we await each change and hear every variation. Some compositions, like "Angel of the Dawn", are hauntingly beautiful. "Bright Sadness" varies the attack and decay of the notes, adding an odd counterpoint. Comparing this album with one by my other favorite keyboardist, Tom Howard, the first thing that stands out is the naked production style. But this is also unique in Johnson's canon, which often caters to rock and pop sensibilities.

I listened to this album lying in the sun, but you could probably pray or meditate to it, and Johnson calls the ten tracks "instrumental prayers". Some listeners might find the final "chanted Lorica" "Circle Me" out of place, but Johnson probably sees it as the natural ending to this musical sojourn of the prophet Elijah. Johnson has long surveyed the continuum between sleeping, waking and dreaming; here he explores the sounds of silence.