Angela Hutchison began singing with her family when she could stand on a chair and sing into a microphone. Standing and singing being the only prerequisites. Singing as a family was woven into the fabric of daily life.
The Hutchisons (comprised of Angela, her mother Adriana and two siblings Chris and Amy) was unofficially formed in 1995. What began as faith-filled harmony around the supper table continued steadily and unswervingly throughout the years that followed.
Shortly after high school, Angela began to take songwriting seriously. Taking a year at college, she studied songwriting along with studio recording and music theory, wrapping up her time there by completing a six-song demo, "Seek First."
During the following year the Hutchisons recorded their first album "Hymns." Two years later Angela recorded and released "Grace Child," and, two years after that, "Hope for Sure," both featuring her songwriting and lead vocals.
As The Hutchisons' music began to take shape and develop a distinctive soaring acappella/acoustic sound, so Angela's music also began to mature. One reviewer described it in this way: "Haunting, hopeful, never hurried...is steady like a morning mist...It shouldn't be wrapped in cellophane, it should come packaged in a coffee-stained napkin." But in whatever form it came, the music's message was unbroken. It was the family's greatest desire that their songs would paint a picture of the hope they had found in Christ Jesus.
In December 2003 Adriana Hutchison was diagnosed with cancer. The years that followed brought a steady round of treatments and hospital visits, but the family continued to sing as they were able.
Having developed and arranged a large and unique repertoire of Christmas carols, The Hutchisons began work on "Christmas," which was released in December 2006. Not long after that work began on "Songs," a much requested, soul-stirring collection of time- tested favorites they had been singing as a family from the beginning.
Two months after the release of "Songs," on February 11, 2009, God took Adriana home to be with Him, as her children sang through the tears, "I'll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death, and praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath; and say when the death dew lies cold on my brow, if ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now!"
This hymn- recorded on their first album- through the years and in that final moment had taken on new colour, breadth and width. It was well, because God is sovereign and because He "so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
With lyrics for another album already years in the making, Angela continued to revisit journal entries, hone old songs, and pen new ones in earnest during the year following her Mother's death.
There is a part in C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian in which Lucy meets Aslan:
"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."1
And so Angela Hutchison has found it to be. Time has passed, suns have risen and moons have set since her sophomore release "Hope for Sure," but Christ has grown bigger and more beautiful with each passing year. That joy is expressed in the anthems contained on her new release "Unconquered."
"Unconquered" continues to meld modern acoustic styling and singable coffee-house folk. Angela's lyrics catch you from the first hook: singable, genuine and down-to-earth, with an uncommon depth.
While "Unconquered" has an intentionally larger feel than former productions- drums, layered percussion and orchestral strings feeling quite at home alongside piano, organ and guitar- fans of previous albums will be pleased that Angela's innocent folk feel remains intact amidst the new sound scape of texture and instrumentation. Chris Hutchison, Angela's brother, once again creates the instrumental backbone of this project, with her sister Amy continuing to lend her crystalline voice to background vocals.
"Unconquered" bursts with life and diversity, from the opening title track based on 2 Corinthians 4, to the epic "Song of Remembrance" that sweeps through thousands of years of redemptive history, to the protest-against-the-protest song "Hey Hillary (Song for my Dental Hygenist)." It breathes the ache of commitment in folk ballad "Ebenezer" and examines the predicament of self-deceit in the rollicking, banjo-flavoured "Thomas O'Crann." Resonator guitars drive the foot-stomping blues vibe of Rich Mullins' "Quoting Deuteronomy," the album's sole cover tune.
Unconquered pulses with the vibrancy of the truth found in God's word and the glorious hope of life in Christ. "Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger." Bigger indeed!
"So we do not lose heart... For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." (2 Corinthians 4:16-17, ESV)