A wasted effort.
Posted April 19, 2008
By Nathan,
Superchic[k] is on a mission. A mission to inspire, empower, and entertain their listeners, and help them believe in themselves. It's been two years since their last album and sadly, it only has ten songs. However they also seem to have gotten a grasp on how to make their music into hit songs, and Beauty from Pain is no exception.
The music is flat out amazing, a similar style of girl rock like Barlow Girl and Avil Livgne, and plenty of pure flowing tunes and beats, with hints of hip hop. The album opens with "anthem" a very fast paced, up tempo girl, rock song; plus it's a single. The hip hop style hit single "pure" is solid, and "Bowling ball" is an upbeat pop song, which is snappy. Again the hip hop shows up on "stories", which features tobyMac (who has it on his CD Diverse City), but the song is a little bland and could have used a little more life.
Lead singer Tricia Brock has impressive vocals and they show on the upbeat songs "wishes". The title track is arguably the most impressive song musically on the album. The song is mainly piano but it picks up a little percussion as the song moves, and it has a really emotional sound to it clearly a strength of this band. The single "its on" is another upbeat girl song, and the chorus really picks up for the song "suddenly". On the smash hit single "we live" it's light rock with a little bit of the hip hop in the bridge, nothing terribly impressive but it gets the job done.
The opening song, "anthems" has some feminine overtones "Here's to the girls on their boards with bruises and scars/Here's to the girls whose fingers bleed from playin guitar" but the song is pretty forgettable, same with "it's on". "we live" sends a strong, but Godless message, about living for today, the way it's set to is similar to "stories". Superchic[k] encourages girls to steer clear of bad relationships ("suddenly" and "wishes"), but still the lack of God in the lyrics is a little disturbing. The only time God's name is even mentioned is on "Beauty from pain", but it's vague and his presence in the lyrics is nil.
vocalist/guitarist Melissa Brock says "The title Beauty From Pain sums up those relationships. We all go through these hard times, but in reality, there is a beauty in that pain because it makes us stronger people and prompts us to lean on God in a way that we never have before." Really? Well it's really hard to tell with lyrics like Superchic[k]s. the music is impressive but the their mission to inspire and empower girls over shadows it.
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