How can you hear God above the din of your daily life?
That’s a question acclaimed worship artist Jaime Jamgochian (pronounced “jam-GO-shzun”) asked herself as she prepared to record her sophomore album from Centricity Records.
Her 2005 debut album “Reason to Live” spawned the hit inspirational single, “Hear My Worship.” She’s spent much of last few years touring and performing, including appearances at Point of Grace’s Girls of Grace conference tour. Last year, she traveled to Peru with 800 girls on a Brio Magazine-sponsored mission trip. She’s even launched her own girls’ conference, Modest Is Hottest.
She was constantly on the move and that can take its toll on anyone, but especially an artist charged with leading people in worship. What Jaime realized was that in order to write music that helped people connect with their Creator, she needed to be still so she could hear His voice above the noise.
Hence the theme of her latest album, “Above the Noise,” which releases February 26th.
What I’ve always liked about Jaime is her willingness to be transparent. When speaking to young girls, for example, she’s open about the fact that she didn’t become a Christian until she was in college and until then lived what she calls a typical college life. With a heart for hurting women, she’s recently teamed up with Family Life Radio for what the station calls the World’s Largest Baby Shower to benefit Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Michigan, Texas and Arizona.
That sincerity and openness comes through on the album. The twelve songs, seven of which she co-wrote, are a nice mix of introspective and personal ballads (“For You” and “The Life I Live”) and buoyant and joyful pop (“God Unchanging” and “Amaze Me”).
There’s nothing that I like better than a rollicking praise song that makes me want to stretch my hand out the car window while I drive down the highway, and that’s what I found on “Sing of Our God” and the chorus of “For Your Glory.” I also love Jaime’s rendition of Nicole Nordeman’s poignant “Heal the Wound.”
“Above The Noise” is a great sophomore release from Jaime Jamgochian, making her an artist to watch.
–written by Joanne Brokaw
