Sonic
Artist: One Sonic Society
Label: Essential Records
Time: 5 Tracks / 27 minutes
 
After the first OSS EP was called One, if you thought that the follow up would be called Two, you can now guess better what title might grace the third.

This middle outing in the post-Delirious?-Hillsong-JIB quartet’s début EP series improves on what I heard of the first and sounds very polished, but breaks no new ground. If anything, it regresses a bit as they re-work the old Delirious? chestnut “Majesty.” True, it improves it somewhat, letting everything stand on a chilled drum loop and refining its sonics. But is this really the way that they want to go? What has happened to the prophetic, challenging edge that the D-boys discovered for their final studio album Kingdom of Comfort?

The forgettable “Now and Forever” certainly isn’t it.

These veterans know what they are doing and how to do it, so creating an anthemic feel tracks like “Almighty God” (and almost on “Walk with Me”) comes easily. In the quieter spells, Stu G’s guitar ripples and entrances. There is a refinement to the songcraft (I’d sing “Walk with Me” at church) even if the lyrics do cover territory as familiar as our own front doors.

So: lovely sound, OK lyrics, music they could make in their sleep and very comfortable. “It has all been done” they sing on “In Jesus’ Name.” Ironic, really.

Derek Walker