MikesChair
Artist: MikesChair
Label: Curb
   
On their MySpace site, Nashvillian band MikesChair describes themselves as pop, rock and experimental.

Experimental? Really? For fans of the most mainstream of Christian radio rock, that may be a concession worth making. For aficionados of the godly tuneage found on labels such as Sounds Familyre and Asthamatic Kitty, this quartet likely resides somewhere to the left of Jeremy Camp and a few degrees right of Skillet.

Certainly their radio singles from their eponymous debut long-player, beginning with the recently ubiquitous "Can't Take Away," err toward the more populist end of their sonic spectrum. Whether one can take away the pre-existent deity responsible for the creation of everything from one whom He has elected and adopted as His own (no, you can't) is almost beside the point. This number, and a couple others, exemplify what a friend of mine and I have deemed the Christian adult-contemporary reclamation of grunge dynamics. I.e., softness for verses growing louder, more bombastic  when the refrain and bridge come around.     

Go deeper into the alum's 11 cuts, and the bands versatility comes into focus. "Silhouette" and "Other Side" flout itchy synth riffs that recall an especially smoothed out MuteMath. "Straight To Your Heart" translates the stomping energy of The Afters' "Never Going Back To OK" into something about as aggressive. 

Within a more synthetic danceability, "Keep Changing The World" salutes saints putting their faith into social action. The song's low-key approach to the group's faith typifies their lyrical approach overall. That approach may get a bit debatable in "Fight The Feeling". If said feeling is supposed to be synonymous with the Holy Spirit's wooing, the guys might want to bone up on more apt doctrinal analogies.

Despite their occasional  lyrical inadequacies, the 'Chair makes a respectable major label premier. Regardless of their name, they may not be an act to sit on (heh heh).

Jamie Lee Rake