Matt Papa's You Are Good was released in October of last year. I read a few things about it, but never gave it much thought.

Then, a few months ago, my music-mafia buddy David Runnels threw the CD my way. Over the past few days, I've really come to enjoy this record. Here's why:

1. Vocals - Matt Papa has a fantastic voice. While worship is filled with tons of great male worship leaders, I would venture that there aren't a lot of true male "vocalists" in the worship game. There are unique voices, but Papa proves himself to capable of using his wide range to meet the requirements of the varied stylistic leanings of this record. Mostly singing in tenor-range, he's able to emote without screeching, and occasionally shows that he can handle the lower register stuff, too.

2. Variety - Some might say that variety is the death of a record, but as far as worship resource, variety is everything! You Are Good has a few straight ahead pop-punk things (a la Crowder,) some ambient hymn remakes (think Phil Wickham,) and a surprising number of piano-driven ballads that are great. For somebody like me, looking for songs that focus the heart of the Father in fresh and passionate and skillfull ways, this record is excellent. He seems to really dig the Psalm-song, too, which is never a bad thing!

3. It's Worship - While the great vocals and the variety of pop experimentation could easily push this record into the ever so popular "pop-music-disguised-as-worship-music," this record isn't overwritten or filled with too much musical saber-rattling. The point is to generate songs for singing to the Lord and it works.

If you're looking for some variety, check out Matt Papa's You Are Good. I'm planning on digging into it for songs for some upcoming deals I've got coming up.