Garage Hymnal are currently the classiest act on the local evangelical music scene. Their new album, the self-titled Garage Hymnal, is simply sensational.

The group started a few years ago as a collaboration between about 40 young musos, aimed at bringing new energy to local congregational music. Their first album showed lots of promise, though their inexperience showed through a little in the production. Their second album was on another level - well produced, good sharp writing, and pushing congregational genre boundaries with a blend of alt-rock and RNB. If there was a criticism, perhaps it suffered from having too many cooks. And perhaps they hadn’t quite figured out their sound yet.

And so we come to the third album, and what is a really a new era for Garage Hymnal. The original group has been pared back to a proper band of just 8 members. And they have found their own musical groove, a kind of alt-pop with a heavy dash of old school gospel. It’s terrific too - I love their sound, and it is a blessed relief to hear a congregational album that doesn’t just serve up steaming dollops of vanilla Christian soft rock.

Much credit clearly goes to the producer. The band spent a small fortune securing the services of David Nicholas - the David Nicholas, who has worked with Midnight Oil, INXS, Delta Goodrem, and just about every other significant act in the country. It was worth the expense too; Nichols kicks a goal on every track. It is a great sounding album, as good as anything you will buy at JB HiFi or download from iTunes. It’s not often I can say that about a Christian recording!

As with previous albums, Garage Hymnal features tight, elegant songwriting with a strong Biblical focus. Stand-out tracks include Dwell, Hallelujah and a wonderful reworking of the 19th century hymn, Beneath the Cross.

Garage Hymnal are now operating in a different league to other local evangelical songwriters. I hope they keep pressing ahead, producing really great art and glorifying God along the way.