Response (album)

Life

Wickham was asked by Bill Lurwick that people may describe this a worship album, and to this Wickham responded by saying "I grew up leading worship ever since I was like 13 years old. I was just like the youth group worship leader back in junior high. It’s always been a big part of what I do and I think if you listen to all my past records, songs that people can sing are sprinkled throughout them all. The whole thought of worship is definitely like – we’ve got some more songs written to God than about other things." Wickham went onto further respond, when he said "It’s always been a big part of what I do, but this really was the goal of this record. It was on my heart to try to put together a record of songs I could sing with people, and hopefully if they fit, into certain churches. I just love to serve the Church with new songs; hopefully they can sing some of them."

Theme behind Response

The word response is a great definition of what worship is. It's responding to who God is and what He's done It's Kind of a formula for worship —God reveals himself, whether it be through his creation or with what he's doing in our hearts or through the Word. He reveals Himself in some way and our hearts just automatically respond to all that God is. That's when worship happens. There's no song called "Response" on Response; it's just what I want the entire record to be...and then calling other people into that response as well. Something I can sing with the church and with the people...

Tim Hughes

Wickham and Tim Hughes co-wrote the song At Your Name together. The story behind it was that "after leading worship at a conference in London with 1500 worship leaders. The next day we were playing around with some ideas...and the idea there's no higher name than God." The conference was at Soul Survivor Church that Hughes invited him to come in order to lead some worship with members of Wickham's church.

Album

The album was crafted with the mindset from Wickham that "I was very intentional with the themes of the song and the progression of the songs on the record". So, Wickham started out by asking for a revelation and end with "The Victory".

Song information

The song was crafted by Wickham "to make sense at the beginning of a moment of worship. I wanted to be asking God to reveal himself...It's that moment of asking Him to reveal Himself and make His presence known." Furthermore, Wickham asks prayed and said "'God, we pray for a new refresh reviewing of your presence and your spirit that you fought with life,' and that was a very intentional opener of the record."

Wickham said the song "is another response to who God is and what He's done in our hearts. There's happiness, which is one thing; but then there's joy, which kind of supersedes happiness and even when we are sad, there is some kind of deeper joy in Jesus that last even in dark times. There's this hope beyond all badness that no one can take away."

This is a song that was crafted because "we wanted to talk about the power of the name of God and we loved the thought of shouting out the name Yahweh. It really has this mysterious history to it. The way we use it now is different from the ancient Israelites. It used to be written out, Yhwh, with no vowels. The way they used to say it back then was more like the sound of a breath. It represented this holy, mysterious Creator God. Now we see who Yahweh is in the person of Jesus. And Jesus shows us this whole other side of God. He puts a face on it with this humility and love. The name hold so much power."

The song was crafted due to "a person response from [Wickham]. [Wickham] was leading worship at this thing called Harvest Crusade. And there were thousands of people who responded and said that they were going to believe in Jesus. And that was a response to God saving all these people. This is the day for salvation."

Bill Lurwick said that the song was "kind of a play between you and God, right?" Wickham responded to it by saying "Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. I’ve never said it like that, but obviously I’ve seen a full moon at night. It’s so amazing to see, but if you’ve taken any kind of level of like a science class, you know that the moon doesn’t shine on its own. It’s from this greater life force that it’s reflecting, which is the sun. It’s just kind of using that thought as a metaphor of what I want God to be and to do in my heart." In addition, Wickham said "We’re kind of image bearers of who He is. We’re made in His image and I think we’re created to be like Him and to reflect who He is, reflect little, little pieces of His glory and His love and His character to people around us. It’s just kind of a prayer that if you were the sun, I want to be the moon. If you’re this massive, amazing light, then I want to be a small part in reflecting that to the world around me."

Wickham described the song as "it’s one of my favorite songs on the record. It’s so simple. The chorus: “Jesus, savior. My God, my king, my Lord. Jesus savior, the victory is yours.” I wanted a song about the cross on the record. I wanted a song about Jesus’ sacrifice, but also victory over death." Furthermore, Wickham said "the song ends by almost kind of saying the story doesn’t end there with the sacrifice. At the end of the record it’s this whole choir singing that death has been beaten. The grave has been conquered and there’s life everafter. That’s the thought I wanted to leave people with after this kind of journey through responding to different aspects of who God is. Just leaving them with the biggest kind of evident work of love that God did, so people can leave the record and live in response to that." So, this is a song that "it's about the cross and how, at the end of the day, we can stand on the victory of it."

Critical reception

Allmusic's Matt Collar said "Response is a melodic and epic blast of modern rock uplift that showcases Wickham's yearning vocals." Collar wrote "longtime fans of Wickham's previous work as well as anyone inclined toward spiritual-leaning, adult alternative rock will find much to enjoy on Response."

Alpha Omega News' Elise F. graded the album an A+, and said "Response is a beautiful story of the heart’s response to God’s love. Phil Wickham has once again created a worshipful masterpiece that will please both longtime fans and new listeners alike."

CCM Magazine's Matt Conner said "the latest release from Phil Wickham features his trademark atmospheric tunes anchoring vertical lyrics, but the tunes on Response are steeped in stong synth work that adds a new layer to Wickham's work."

Christian Music Zine's Tyler Hess said "The heart is there and the voice is always powerful and stirring, though I think the songs need a little bit more sizzle in them to maintain my attention over an extended period of time, as they tend to put me in more of a dreamy daze than a get up and go spirit. I don’t really think that this is the best output from Wickham and some of the songs were just a little too generic for what his skill dictates, but there’s enough on here to pick it up if you’re a fan of his earlier work."

Christianity Today's Andy Argyrakis said "Wickham's a true original thanks to clever wordplay, adventurous arrangements, and the ability to strike just the right balance between reverence and resourcefulness."

Cross Rhythms' Tim Holden said "this at first hearing may seem like stereotypical modern worship. But a closer listen will reveal the songwriting craft and skilful production which go into each of Wickham's albums and this could easily be his strongest yet." Holden wrote "It is a sign of the maturity and depth of this album that no one track jumps out as being head and shoulders above the rest and that any two listeners will probably choose different tracks as their favourite while the Scripture-based lyrics draw us continually back to the Godhead."

Indie Vision Music's Jonathan Andre said "is one of my favourite worship albums in 2011, and if you want to continue to dive into the Lord’s presence; look no further than Phil’s latest effort."

Jesus Freak Hideout's Tyler White said "Response is perhaps his most mainstream album to date". White wrote "It would be easy to dismiss this album as a step back for Wickham, since the feel of the album seems a bit Vanilla compared to his Neapolitan past, but that would be a disservice to his talent. Wickham's songwriting is in a higher caliber than most songs on Christian radio right now, and the San Diego songster pours his heart out with solid arrangements and beautiful thought-out metaphors that feel natural and uncontrived."

Jesus Freak Hideout's Ryan Barbee said "sadly, I must say that the album as a whole does not reach the standards that Wickham had established with his previous releases. Still, there are some incredible glimpses of genius even if they take a couple of listens before they can be observed. But for this reviewer, the response is still very mixed."

Louder Than The Music's Jono Davies said "to summarise, this is a very good album. Great creative songs, great voice and great expressions of praise to God (a few too many great's there maybe). But there is something that's stopping me saying this is an outstanding album. What that is, I'm not sure. But when you hear it, you just know, and on this album I don't always hear it. But overall this is a good, and I'll even use that word again, a great album. Maybe given time this will grow on me more, but for now I am more than willing to express that you should check this out and actually make up your own mind.

Melodic.net's Kaj Roth said the "album is filled with anthemic pop/rock songs".

New Release Tuesday's Kevin Davis said "Wickham provides listeners with eleven tracks that seek to give a voice to humanity’s acceptance of God’s love in any circumstance. In the same way that the Psalms offer expressions of joy, sorrow, repentance, hope and victory, Response gives a voice to the appreciation and adoration of God in every chapter of life." Davis wrote "Phil Wickham’s enthusiastic and reverent style of writing and singing praise and worship songs has consistently been a draw for me. Wickham’s prayerful sentiments are consistently filled with his personal adoration of God."

Phantom Tollbooth's Michael Dalton said "Wickham is doing modern worship as well as anyone. He is among the leaders of a new generation that are declaring God’s praises." Dalton wrote this is album is "a powerful God calls for powerful worship, and this song like so many on this release conveys it."