Look to You

by Andree Farias

Look to You, Hillsong United's sixth live album, was the album that defined the career of the maturing Australian ensemble. Before that, these modern worshipers were merely a more rocking, youth-oriented extension of their grown-up Hillsong counterparts, exchanging songs and ideas with them but never quite nailing an entire album with their own distinctive stamp. Look to You was different. The disc marked the beginning of a new era for them: it saw them moving beyond stock pop/rock musicianship and vertical sentiments into something more genuinely heartfelt, more passionate, more substantive than their collective talents and their annualized concert recordings. Previous outings were hit and miss -- overlong, meandering worship marathons long on repetition and youthful praise workouts. By contrast, every moment on Look to You is nearly indispensable, each an essential component of a bigger whole, whether it's a melodic post-punk romp ("Tell the World," "What the World Will Never Take"), a hair-raising battle cry ("Shout Unto God"), or a take-no-prisoners corporate ballad ("All for Love," "There Is Nothing Like"). That's only a small sampling; it's ineffectual to pick favorites from an album where every song contributes significantly to the overall dynamic. Look to You is an early pinnacle in the still adolescent trajectory of Hillsong United.