Whispered and Shouted (CD - 2007)

Personnel: Aaron Shust (guitar); Carolyn Hancock, Sheela Iyengar, William Pu, Jeanne Johnson (violin); Amy Chang, Tania Maxwell Clements (viola); P. David Hancock, Charae Krueger (cello); Karl Liberatore (trumpet); Adam Mewherter (trombone); Bryan Lopes (horns); John Carozza (Hammond b-3 organ); Pat Malone, Tim Gibson (bass guitar); Dan Hannon, Scott Meeder, Jon Chalden (drums); Kristian Stanfill, Sarah Shust, Kristin Turney-Jones, Eric Gilbert, Dustin Ahkuoi, Rosie Iraheta, Ashley Appling, Jeff Wreyford, Thomas Dickerson, Mike Gleason, Eryn McHugh (background vocals).

Following up on the success of his debut, ANYTHING WORTH SAYING, Georgia-based Christian pop/rock artist Aaron Shust released WHISPERED AND SHOUTED in 2007. With its bright, buoyant arrangements (see the keyboard-driven "Create Again"), the album showcases Shust's knack for melody, while never shying away from his faith ("Long Live the King" and "The Name of Jesus").

Whispered and Shouted is more of the same temperate worship lyrics and glitzy production from the Jakob Dylan sound-alike. Expectations were high even before Aaron Shust was named Songwriter of the Year at the GMA Awards. To a degree, this sophomore project met the hype by offering more simplistic worship odes like those on Anything Worth Saying. The instrumentation is more varied this time around, yet Shust's work shows a disappointing sameness and transparency that plague the disc throughout. Rather than taking you to new places (which he is clearly capable of doing), the journey remains stagnant. Had he focused on expanding his lyrical versatility versus experimenting with production, Shust had the potential to live up to the accolades that began stacking up possibly a little too early in his career. ~ Jared Johnson minimize