There’s just something about hymn lyrics that contemporary songs sometimes lack. Whether it’s the poeticism, the literary feel and sound, or even just the sense of a connection with Christian witnesses of the past, the hymn has stood the test of time. Groups like Red Mountain Music and Indelible Grace have made the modern retooling of hymns a life’s work, but there are many examples of hymnal excursions by otherwise contemporary artists.

Australian-born musician (and current resident of Nashville in the US) Nathan Tasker is one person who has made that trip back into hymnody. His latest album, The Bell Tower, features a suite of some well-known and lesser-known hymns from the likes of William Cowper, Francis of Assisi, Frances Havergal and Henry Lyte.

What seems most to distinguish this from Tasker’s previous album of hymns, Prone to Wander, is that every track on the record but the first has a completely new tune. “Man of Sorrows” is reimagined as a walking, rhythmic piano and guitar piece, while “Abide With Me” is an introspective acoustic ballad.

The songs effectively blend Tasker’s acoustic singer-songwriter credentials with a rich tradition of classic Christian lyricism, and so the overall sound is one of personal devotion – even the relatively jaunty band number “God Moves”, based on Cowper’s perhaps most well-known hymn, has at times an almost sotto voce quality, nestled in the middle of an introspective, but not static, devotional album.

For some, the song selection will mean a period of adjustment, as hymns with classic tunes – or even widely sung contemporary ones – sound strange on the first listen. This may particularly be the case with Tasker’s renditions of the widely known and sung “Take My Life”, “God Moves” and “Abide With Me”.

However, in some respects the point of these new tunes is, as Tasker has said previously, “to let these hymns ring out” in the manner of the title’s namesake belltower at St Philip’s, York Street – standing in the middle of changing, busy Sydney. It also is an expression of hymns that have been a help to Tasker himself during a trying period of his life.

In that light, perhaps those for whom hymns are a novelty are the people this album chiefly has in mind. Even so, it’s not long before The Bell Tower begins to settle on you like a well-worn coat, blending together timeless lyrics and an unchanging truth with music and melody all its own.

Nathan Tasker is touring Australia in support of the new album through August. Check out his Facebook page for more details.

See below for a video of one of the songs from the album.