Danen Kane ‘Love Is Waiting’

Danen Kane is a name that until prior to popping the CD in, I had never heard of before. But it turns out that Love Is Waiting is his 5th full length album. After listening through to it the first time, I was quite surprised that I hadn‟t come across this talented Wisconsin native musician before. I read that over the years leading up to recording Love Is Waiting, Danen started out playing guitar for Campus Crusade for Christ and then onto leading worship in churches. I could best describe his newest effort as an acoustic rock album with a little hint (vocally) of both Jimmy Needham with a little Shawn McDonald mixed in.

The album‟s first track “I Found Love” is one that many of us could relate to as our story of salvation, and then dives into “Inheritance” that speaks of God‟s gifts to those who believe on Him. “His love, it permeates our souls / He breathes, His life into His own….Inheritance is ours”. This intro of this song reminds me so much of a 90‟s band called Sister Hazel, and showed off the capabilities of Danen‟s falsetto range. Not many mail vocalists can pull this off, without the turning the heads (and ears) of listeners. 🙂

I think so many times in life, we can relate to the message of “Beautiful Mess”. Though we‟re saved by God‟s grace through Christ – we‟re looked at as beautiful creations by the Lord – though we often see ourselves in our struggles to live in God‟s will as a big “mess”. I like the second verse which says “I want to step inside Your window, I want to dwell inside Your fire / Oh that Your voice would be my conscience, that Your wish was my desire”

“Take It All” is probably my favorite song on the record. Almost an acoustic ballad that talks about ambitions of what we would „like‟ to do for God with our lives – but instead realizing all of mistakes, sin and our own minds keep us from truly serving God. Asking God in prayer to take everything from us that keep us from truly serving the Lord as He intended for us. Perhaps one of my favorite lines in the whole song is the verse, which says “Why are we here, why were we saved, do we really live like our hearts have changed / Wasting away, to lazy for faith, building our kingdoms that pass away”. This reminds me a lot of Joshua 24:15, a scripture that I feel God has laid a lot on my heart lately. A recent song written by John Waller reminds me too of what this song is trying to say. “Choose this day whom you will serve… As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”. That‟s really what I got from this song.

There is so much I can say about this amazing record, but I am truly glad I sat back a listened, because it‟s just what I needed to put some things in perspective. If you like vocalists like Jimmy Needham, Shawn McDonald and Jadon Lavik, or perhaps some good acoustic pop/rock, then I think Danen Kane is a new artist that you need to take a listen to. I believe Love Is Waiting is one of the diamonds in the rough‟ in 2011 and one that I almost missed. Pick up a copy for yourself and you‟ll know exactly what I am talking about.