Come Thou Font (Forrest Frank)

Forrest Frank’s New Hymns, released in October 2023 on his own River House Records, reimagines traditional hymns as lo-fi and rap and hip-hop. “Come Thou Font,” a 3:21 track near the back of the album, is his take on Robert Robinson’s 1758 text, and the changed word in the title tells you what kind of record this is: affectionate, a little jokey, and pitched at people who might not otherwise open a hymnal. The context matters. Frank was named Billboard’s No. 1 new Christian artist of 2023, and this album was a deliberate turn toward the old repertoire, with guest appearances from Lecrae and Hulvey on other tracks and two songs that made the Hot Christian Songs chart – “Fly Away” and “Nothing but the Blood.”

The concept has a real argument in its favor. A lo-fi setting is a solitary one, a person alone with headphones, and Robinson’s text is solitary in the same way: “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it” is a sentence spoken to God in private. The hymn’s Ebenezer language and 18th-century syntax are a lot to ask of a new audience, and Frank’s approach is to keep the words and change the room they are sung in.

The risk is the flip side of the strength. Lo-fi’s defining sound is softness, and a hymn whose best line is an admission of danger can go soft with it. When the arrangement is built to be unobtrusive background listening, the hymn’s edges get sanded as well. Frank’s version is a legitimate way into the text for an audience the choir and the folk-revival readings don’t reach, and it is closer to an invitation than a rethink.

7.1/10 – a well-intentioned, well-aimed on-ramp to the hymn that trades some of its edge for accessibility.

Hero image: “New Hymns” album artwork, River House Records. Used under fair use for editorial commentary.