Raw, Honest, Excellent | Posted May 31, 2013
Tim Timmons is far from your established triple-threat singer/songwriter/worship leader. Albeit, he balances all three roles, but for this happily married father of four, music isn't just a career, nor is it merely a passion he‘s possessed since childhood. For Tim, it's a potential movement.
"If there's a word for me it's 'inviting,'" he says. "I want to invite people into a conversation about Jesus."
And invite he does. Having served as the worship leader for Mariners Church in Irvine, Calif. for 15 years, alongside his many co-writing accolades with key players in CCM, this seasoned musician has quite the story to tell. Diagnosed with an incurable cancer nearly a decade ago, he considers the sickness to be both a gift, and a timely assignment to broadcast the name of Jesus with fierce urgency.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything… the gift through an incurable cancer, or any other sorrow we face, is perspective. And perspective is the gift that keeps on giving."
Tim's world was rocked again in 2010 when the content independent artist felt called to lay down his role at Mariners and pursue a full-time career in the industry. After much poking and prodding from friends, family, and God Himself, he finally embraced the calling and embarked on a new season.
Coming three years later, Cast My Cares is Timmons' first major label release. The album is an 11-song flight that openly chronicles Tim's personal relationship with Christ over the last several years, through the mountaintops and the messes.
"It's Your Revolution" kicks things off with an infectious groove and a solid dose of brilliant penmanship, a foreshadowing of things to come: "You are the air held in our lungs, it's not enough if we're not breathing / What good is a song stuck in a heart? / If we don't sing, the stones start screaming."
The inquisitive "Start With Me" reels you in with a funky hook, while the project's namesake "Cast My Cares" is a vulnerable reminder to continually cast our cares upon God, especially when life gives us more than we can handle. It's a message everyone can relate to in one way or another, and is set against yet another fantastic background melody.
"You Remain" begins soothing and builds momentum. It talks about our human tendency to run our own lives, only to see them crumble under the frailty of our own control, yet how every time, God remains near, ready to help us pick up the pieces: "I've tried to do this now for so long on my own / You'd think I would have figured this whole thing out somehow / But just when I think I can't fall faster, farther away, I turn around, and there You are."
"Christ In Me" perfectly balances Tim's ability to lead the listener into worship, as well as deliver an honest message about his own struggle with faith.
Without a doubt the finest example of songwriting on the album, the 5-star song "Let's Be Beautiful" is an allegory that that edifies the Church on how we will never be seen as the shining bride of Christ till we throw away all the ugly divisions that ensnare us: "Let's be beautiful, with love so radical / Full of compassion, oh what would happen if we were powerful from grace that overflows? / Love into action, oh what would happen if we were beautiful?"
Tim channels shades of Gavin DeGraw with his soulful and passionate delivery of vocals on "For Your Glory." The lyrics share how God will take every circumstance we face, whether it be a victory or a valley, and use it for His glory.
"I Will Follow Love" is a song of complete surrender that declares our allegiance to God no matter what, even if it means losing everything for Him. It yet again showcases the raw depth of honesty in Timmons' songwriting and leaves the listener feeling both challenged and uplifted: "I still believe You're in the silence, I still believe You're ever near, I still believe You're in the fire, I choose to believe above the fear."
Both "Great Reward" and "Holy Unafraid" tap into Tim's worship leading roots and serve as great moments of holy intimacy on the record, the latter of the two being a great addition for any worship leaders looking for something upbeat to bring to their congregation.
"Only One Standing" takes Tim's chief mission statement of seeing his private kingdom fall to the ground in order to see God's kingdom arise, and assembles it in the form of a four minute song. It's a solid way to end a lyrically golden album.
Closing Thoughts:
Tim Timmons' Cast My Cares is one of the finest examples of raw, honest songwriting to come from a worship artist in a very long time. His ability to balance one's own personal struggles authentically, while still being able to lay them down them with wholehearted abandon, is refreshing and vastly laudable.
The first half of the album does feel stronger than the latter, and while it never boasts a surplus of musical diversity, the chill pop/soul style Timmons has chosen suits him extremely well, and is done in such a way that draws you in song after song. Unquestionably one of the strongest releases of the year by a male vocalist, you'll definitely want to keep an eye on this rising artist.
Song To Download:
"Let's Be Beautiful"
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