“I Need You Lord” by Vin Mack

As rich as it is uncompromising, Vin Mack’s vocal in the new contemporary gospel jam “I Need You Lord” would have been enough to win a lot of favor from critics around the world this summer, but that’s not the only one of its features worth celebrating. Starting with his voice and moving into the actual rhythm of the music, Vin Mack’s command of the lyricism and its sentiments makes me wonder why it’s taken so long for him to reach the spotlight as he has recently. “I Need You Lord” is more than a declaration of faith – it’s a statement of talent on behalf of a very gifted singer. 

Vin Mack doesn’t need a lot of help from the instrumentation in this single to give us a really incredible showing behind the microphone, and I think he made the right decision in keeping things pretty basic in the arrangement just so that we can fall in love with his vocal stylings here. He’s giving us a delicate but wholly honest performance, and with literally nothing else in the master mix for his voice to compete with, there’s never a moment in which he isn’t the most radiant character before us. 

The music video for “I Need You Lord” is equally simple, and I think that the warmth of Vin Mack’s personality winds up being the most alluring quality within its visual scheme. Who needs props when you’ve got the kind of presence this guy does from one frame to the next? There’s just such a raw charisma guiding us into the verses and his gaze that trying to couple this intimate performance with a plasticized narrative complete with a lot of actors would have been pointless – not to mention entirely unnecessary on every level. 

I love that my man is taking it easier on the tempo than he actually has to, mostly because this affords him the ability to resist rushing at every turn, taking his time with the groove and allowing for the harmony to unfold as organically as possible. Synthetics are the go-to tool when it comes to making a lot of R&B nowadays, but in this soulful gospel cut, you won’t find a lot of the bells and whistles that other players have to utilize when trying to make something larger than life – Vin Mack has no need for such trite elements in his work. 

Contemporary gospel is getting a lot more exciting in 2021 thanks to a vibrant American underground, and if you haven’t been keeping up with the indie beat lately, listening to Vin Mack will definitely have you excited about what the future holds for this emerging generation of faith-based singers and songwriters. Vin Mack has his execution down to a science here, but more importantly, he has a relationship with the rhythm and harmony that you can’t teach in any school nor simply rehearse into existence. It’s a gift from God, and one he isn’t taking for granted at all in “I Need You Lord.” 

Mindy McCall